8 years ago
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Meet Alan Grayson: the brash Democrat who could help win back the Senate
Who is Alan Grayson? Alan Grayson is an outspokenly progressive Democratic member of the House of Representatives from Florida who is responsible for 90% of all scowly leftist congressional zingers posted in your Facebook feed now that Barney Frank has retired. He is running for the Florida Senate seat that Marco Rubio will vacate in 2016 because he really wants to become president.
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http://www.theguardian.com
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Alan Grayson on the GOP Health Care Plan: "Don't Get Sick! And if You Do Get Sick, Die Quickly!"'
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Don't get me wrong, I like Grayson.
But I do worry that running such a firebrand in a purple state such as FL puts the dems at risk of not gaining back the senate if he loses. We have a narrow, but possible, path to victory next year, and honestly I would prefer that we run Patrick Murphy as a safer bet.
However, that said, if he is nominated I really, really hope he wins.
Grayson is a risk, yes. But if you pay attention to the support the US public has given to Sanders and Warren, I think he's a risk worth taking. We need more like him at every level in our government.
I mostly agree. I guess I just worry whenever we run a big risk.
I'm hoping this election continues to go the way it appears like it will. 2016 will be a turning point for the country no matter what happens. If the Republicans take the presidency and hold the senate, so much of the work that's been done over the past years will be undone.
However, if we can take the presidency and the senate, then we have a shot to solidify President Obama's gains and move forward even more. Not to mention we get to likely set the alignment of the court for the next couple of decades.
Any candidate the Democrats run will spur howls of outrage and predictions of doom from the Republicans. Primary election seasons like this tend to draw more voters, and that typically results in Democratic wins. Not every seat is guaranteed, but Grayson chose the best possible campaign season to make this run. If it had been a mid-term election then I agree the risk would have been too great.
Nevertheless, the Democrats have been trying to play it safe for the past thirty years and have lost steadily most of the time. The only exception were years when the public simply couldn't stomach Republicans any longer. I've repeatedly seen where campaigns defying common wisdom and taking changes to aggressively push progressive campaigns won even in seasons where Republicans otherwise dominated. I think it's time to stop playing it safe and start giving people reasons to vote.