John Mica, one of the most retrograde of the pay-to-play brigade, is running for reelection again. This is a man who believes that women should die rather than receiving abortions that could save their life. He pushed to get pork for his campaign contributors into the stimulus bill, then voted against it. He wants to cut taxes across the board and increase spending, as if we weren’t bleeding red ink catastrophically. He wants to increase the maximum allowable contribution to federal candidates in an age when working Americans can’t even get in the door to the legislative process. This oligarch is a living insult to the tens of millions of Americans struggling to survive in the wreckage of an economy rigged in favor of the special interests Mica loves so dearly.
Yet, inexplicably, in every one of the four campaigns I have worked on to defeat this man, multiple people have pulled me aside to explain in hushed tones, “you realize that Mica is unbeatable, right?” He is accorded magical properties. I’ve seen enough politics to know that it contains no magic. A strong candidate with a coherent and resonant message can beat this man. Barack Obama may have lost the district (by three points, a rain shower would have tipped it in his favor), but people are frightened now in a way in which most of them have never been scared before. The American way of life seems to be collapsing around our heads, and John Mica continues to whistle a happy tune.
The good news is that, unlike in 2004, Mica is not running unopposed. (Amended 6/29: Faye Armitage, the 2008 Democratic US House nominee who raised $32,929 and suffered a twenty-four point defeat to … Mica, told me tonight that she is still “testing the waters” and that her decision would hinge on how successful her fund-raising efforts were. She did not choose to quantify her money test, nor to comment on the persistent rumors about her decision to drop out of the race.)
Three declared and two filed candidates have come forward, all Democrats. Stephen Bacon, an accountant, originally filed as an Independent before amending his Statement of Candidacy to change his party affiliation to Democrat. His issue is education, an idiosyncratic choice for a Congresional candidate. He has done little or nothing to campaign. I breathe Seventh District Democratic politics, and I’ve never met the man. Not a good sign. (I met Stephen today at the Volusia County Women’s Democratic Club Picnic and he was not education-focused, instead offering a complex policy proposal involving accounting rules and a “For the People” tagline)
Peter Silva, a retail bank branch manager, is somewhat more promising. A former vice-chair of the St. Johns DEC, he has been knocking on doors in St. Johns County, trying to close off the home territory of Faye Armitage, 2008’s sacrificial lamb. He is intelligent and dedicated, but plodding, a poor quality for this race. He has yet to build a team, and his de facto campaign manager, formerly briefly of the Armitage campaign, lives in California. He is hesitant on personnel matters, which is a particular problem when viewed in light of the next candidate.
Set to file on July 1 and to announce on July 7, Heather Beaven is a non-profit CEO and Navy veteran who has made an interesting choice for her campaign manager.
(full disclosure: Beaven’s campaign manger is my girlfriend, but the candidate and I are not friendly at the moment, my having left her campaign.)
Lisa Walker is running the Beaven campaign after cutting her teeth on the grassroots Obama movement. In the course of that effort and her successful bid as an Obama delegate to the DNC last August, she built an extensive network of contacts throughout the district which she has plundered shamelessly for her candidate’s benefit. She has ransacked local schools, Stetson University in particular, for interns. Any candidate trying to build street teams is going to find the cupboard bare and a friendly note from Lisa. Fund-raising is going to be the rub as always, but this campaign will do better than the other two. If the campaign can build a coherent and appealing message, Beaven stands the best chance among the current candidates. She has an appealing personal story and an engaging retail style. She is energetic and dedicated.
The X factor is the body of persistent rumors concerning Joyce Cusack, the termed-out former 27th District State Rep. She would almost certainly win the nomination if she ran, but the demographics of the district do not favor her for the General. She seems more likely, absent an open seat, to run for State Senate.
I urge Progressives to support one of these candidates. Don’t send your money out of the district this cycle, folks. Mica needs to go down, and this our last crack before they re-Gerrymander the District.
