Dem Notes

* “At the end of the day, we are going to need everybody. We will not win just by increasing the turnout of people who already agree with us completely on everything.”–Former President Barack Obama.

* It’s no secret that the now-suspended campaign of Kamala Harris, 55, had been tanking after a promising start. Personnel layoffs, financial straits and factions bickering over strategy were making more news than Harris sound bites. And it hardly helped that Harris’ younger sister, Maya, 52, was the unchallenged campaign chairwoman who reportedly played dual roles as sister and adviser. A family member, even one who has been a political analyst on MSNBC and a policy adviser to Hillary Clinton in 2016, calling too many shots does not make for a winning campaign. RFK and JFK were the exception.  

* “Every older person was a younger person once. And maybe it demystifies a little bit the extent to which age represents readiness.”–Pete Buttigieg, 37.

* “In a state like Florida … Trump effectively has had the field to himself, running ads and starting his reelection effort. Mike has begun challenging him already, and is the only candidate doing so.”–Michael Bloomberg campaign spokesperson Marc LaVorgna, on Bloomberg’s focus on Florida, which includes a $3.5-million ad blitz in every major media market through Dec. 3.

* Ironic–and maybe telling–that Bernie Sanders, who would be the oldest person ever elected president, does better, according to polls, with younger voters than with the Social Security set.

* Still too many Democratic candidates? For sure. Maybe the possibility of a brokered convention keeps it turbulent, counterproductive and oversized.

* Joe Biden, as we know, continues to do well with African American voters. This was underscored again when he was endorsed by Florida’s top Democrat, Senate minority leader Audrey Gipson, who is also Florida’s most tenured black lawmaker. While acknowledging that a white candidate can’t “out-African American an African American candidate,” she’s committed to Biden for civil rights stands and for being the vice president chosen by America’s first black president.

* Imagine a Democratic primary with candidates ranging from a socialist to billionaires. It’s yet another reminder of the Democrats’ challenge: The critical need to unite behind one candidate out of this demographic and ideological stew to take down the menace in the White House and pivot to Democratic values and democratic norms.

Ballot Order

A federal judge has struck down a Florida law that needed striking. It’s the one that requires candidates from the party that occupies the governor’s mansion to be placed first on the ballot. It’s been on the books since 1951, when Democrat Fuller Warren was governor. (Yes, I looked that up.) The judge wrote that such ballot placement has given Republicans over the last 20 years a roughly 5 percent advantage–the so-called “primacy effect”–at the polls. The judge offered suggestions, including alphabetizing–but not decrees–as ways to undo the advantage.

A couple of takeaways: We should all be able to agree that a fairer ballot is a better ballot. It’s also worth pondering how a serious, properly prepared voter could mismark a ballot belying that voter’s intention. Some onus has to be on the electorate. Now more than ever.

Sports Shorts

* The one impactful person that the USF Bulls football program still misses above all others: QB Quinton Flowers. He helped make the transition from Willie Taggert to Charley Strong seamless. Taggert leveraged his last (11-2) USF year into the Oregon job. Strong inherited the catalytic Flowers for his first (10-2) season. Then the seams began to unravel, and Strong was fired. Now “buyout” and next-coach speculation are back in the Bulls’ grid conversation. Speaking of the latter, don’t even think about Lane Kiffin.

* There was a time when USF wasn’t keen on playing UCF. As in, an up-and-coming Big East program didn’t need to step down to play a lesser-aligned (Conference USA) UCF. Those were the days.

* We know how professional sports franchises keep upping the ante on amenities, including the interactive ones, at games to heighten the fan experience and rationalize ratcheting ticket prices. But, arguably, nobody saw this one coming at Philadelphia’s Well Fargo Center, home of the NHL Flyers. Fans can now relieve frustration and stress by scheduling time in the facility’s “Disassembly Room.” More commonly known as the “Rage Room,” it’s where fans can take a hammer and smash away at plates, glasses, even televisions. But it’s not free. It’s $35 per fan, and reservations–if not misgivings–are required. I know this is Philly, and Philly fans are known for, uh, unleashing rage, including at their own–but, yo!–an actual Rage Room!

* Thanks to the NFL and show-bizzy, network enablers, look-at-me player antics have filtered down to the college game and at times to the high schools. “Celebrations” morph into juvenile, boorish–or worse–choreography. The most recent Exhibit A: A University of Mississippi player scored a potential tying TD with seconds left in the Rebels’ game against Mississippi State. Then he was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct for simulating a urinating dog as his end zone TD “celebration.” The 15-yard penalty made the point-after kick longer than it would have been and the kicker missed and Ole *iss lost. Maybe it will become a teachable lesson. Find better ways to celebrate and show some class for the game, the opposition and your school, if that still matters.

Quoteworthy

* “I would say that the North Koreans do one thing a lot, and that’s bluff.”–David R. Stilwell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs.

* “Russia’s successful attempt to co-opt the Republican Party closely parallels its broad campaign to compromise right-wing populist politicians in Europe with offers of cooperation, loans, propaganda and disinformation campaigns. … It is highly likely that Russian money played a significant role in the successful pro-Brexit campaign to withdraw the U.K. from the European Union.”–Kenneth F. McCallion, author of “Treason & Betrayal: The Rise and Fall of Individual-1.”

* “We’re going to stay until such time as we have a deal, or we have total victory, and they want to make a deal very badly.”–President Donald Trump, in his unannounced visit to American troops in Afghanistan.

* “The Republicans in the Senate and in the House think they’re in a Parliament, and their responsibility is to a prime minister to whom they owe party loyalty.”–Stuart Gerson, a member of the conservative group Checks & Balances and a former campaign adviser to President George H.W. Bush.

*”Salem witches got a better deal than this.”–South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, in denouncing the House impeachment inquiry.

* “Our separation of powers, the guard rail of our Constitution, fails when half the legislative branch abdicates its duty to hold the executive branch accountable. The cost of this failure will endure long beyond this presidency and is already signaling that our democracy is not only diminished but also increasingly dysfunctional.”–Susan Rice, the national security adviser under President Barack Obama.

* “(Trump’s) performance as president has confirmed my worst fears: trade wars, denial of climate change, huge budget deficits, attacks on the Federal Reserve, a chaotic White House and betrayal of our allies abroad. Worse yet, Congressional Republicans have done little to check Mr. Trump’s egregious behavior.”–Harvard economics Professor N. Gregory Mankiw.

* “A Moscow-loving grifter is on the loose in the White House. Shame on the Vichy Republicans who constantly enable (Trump).”–Republican consultant Michael Murphy.

* “I think sometimes the populist left is overrepresented in places where reporters sometimes spend a lot of time. Like on Twitter.”–David Axelrod, Democratic strategist and former White House aide to President Obama.

* “Undecideds almost always break toward the challenger. It happened in 2016 to Trump.”–Amy Walter, national editor of the Cook Political Report.

* “Any scenario where an impeached president is trying to jam through a Supreme Court pick in an election year, in direct defiance of the precedent Mitch McConnell set with Merrick Garland in 2016, would rightly spark a war.”–Brian Fallon, the co-founder and executive director of Demand Justice, a progressive judicial nominee advocacy group.

* “It’s time to put term limits on the Supreme Court.”–John Fund, the National Review.

* “The ugliness my jokes help reveal is why I’m so worried about our pluralistic democracies. … Social media platforms make it easier for people who share the same false premises to find one another, and then the technology acts as an accelerant for toxic thinking. … Fake news outperforms real news on social media; studies show that lies spread faster than truth.”–Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in an Anti-Defamation League speech.

* “He’s the intellectuals’ James Bond.”–How James Baldwin once referred to William F. Buckley Jr.

* “We’re in a race right now to save the Florida citrus industry.”–Michael Rogers, director of the University of Florida’s Citrus Research and Education Center.

* “That was an unintended consequence. I don’t think any of us saw that coming.”–Former Florida Republican minority leader Curt Kiser, on how term limits resulted in the process of picking the leaders of the two chambers years in advance.

* “The most powerful man in the state.”–That’s what U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fl., may be, according to Rep. Gus Bilirakis, because of Gaetz’s friendships with Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump.

* “Just because Ron DeSantis is no longer the tip of the (Fox) spear on impeachment doesn’t mean he’s not advancing the Trump agenda in Florida.”–Rep. Matt Gaetz.

* “Our obligation to the public is to put this into context and make them realize this could affect you, your children, your grandchildren, if we don’t start now, becoming more adaptive and mitigated through sustainability and resiliency process.”–John Bennett, Mayor Jane Castor’s chief of staff, on climate-change impact. Tampa is currently in the midst of a national search for a chief resiliency officer.

* “The market demand in Tampa has been strong from the start. Ybor City is also home to a budding film and creative industry, which makes it the perfect place for this unique movie theater conversion.”–Industrious Florida manager Jen Reilly Kelmer, on the conversion of the Centro Ybor AMC movie theater into 45,000 square feet of flexible working space. Industrious, which has 90 locations nationwide, is partnering with the investment firm Third Lake Capital.

* “I’ve always said that the only way to be successful in politics is to compromise, and right now we’re not there. I’m going to try my best, with the Lord’s help and prayers, to try to bring some collegiality back to this board and back to this county before I leave. Our success depends on that.”–Outgoing Hillsborough County Commission Chairman Les Miller.

* “I fully support the decision to reorient our football program in a new direction.”–New USF President Steven C. Currall, on the firing of head football coach Charlie Strong.

Impeach Mints: A Sampling

* “Frankly, I want a trial.” That’s President Donald Trump’s acknowledged trump card, the one that is reliant on embarrassingly sycophantic Republicans in the Senate voting against impeachment conviction. Loathsome Lindsey & Co. will vote their party, Trump fealty and their political self interest. Then comes the rally-’round,  re-election rhetoric of “witch hunt,” “hoax,” “fake news” and then the figurative spiking of the campaign football: “Exoneration!” As if.

The Trump-channeling base will drink the exoneration Kool Aid and ask for seconds. The rest of the electorate, which outnumbers the base, will have to be the ultimate jury after the Senate acquittal. Surely there are enough American voters, regardless of party or no-party affiliation, who have seen enough of Trump–both before and as president–to know that four more years of his unhinged, unethical faux populism and fraught authoritarianism is really, really bad for America. Surely.

* Arguably, the best response to defensive taunts of “hearsay” testimony is first-hand testimony. But the White House hasn’t cooperated–(no direct, under-oath input from Mike Pompeo, Mick Mulvaney, John Bolton et al)–and knows it could run the clock out on subpoena appeals. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff confirmed as much. “What we’re not prepared to do,” said Schiff, “is wait months and months while the administration plays a game of rope-a-dope in an effort to try to stall.”

* The impeachment process, although rare and sometimes misunderstood, will come down to a familiar legal scenario: Indictment (impeachment hearings), Trial (Senate vote), Appeal (2020 election vote).

* “I’ve seen things written like he’s going to throw me under the bus. When they say that, I say he isn’t. But I have insurance.”–That was Rudy Giuliani. Maybe he has photos.

* “If you don’t want liberal extremists to run your lives, then today we say welcome to the Republican Party. … We’ve done more for African-Americans in three years than the broken Washington establishment has done in 30 years.” That was Trump, possibly with a straightface, at a “Black Voices for Trump” rally in Atlanta.

* What you just heard may have been the sound of MLK turning over in his grave as his niece, Alveda King, acts increasingly like someone who is, preposterously, among Trump’s most loyal African-American supporters. Perhaps being “judged by the content of their character” just doesn’t resonate as it used to.

* “The time has come to investigate the investigators.” No, that wasn’t a Trump tweet–but the defiant response of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to formal charges of corruption. The two have more in common than we would like to admit.

* Fiona Hill for secretary of state.

* So there was President Trump last week in Austin, Texas touring a plant that makes high-end Apple computers. He was accompanied by the ultimate Apple prop, Timothy Cook, its chief executive. Trump was there, the president cluelessly suggested, for the grand opening–that very day. Only one problem: the plant that he was taking credit for had opened six years earlier. Cook, of course, didn’t correct him; he’s still lobbying Trump on trade and tax issues.

Trump then doubled down a little later by tweeting: “Today, I opened a major Apple Manufacturing plant in Texas that will bring high paying jobs back to America.” Talk about “fake news.”

* “We have to stand with Hong Kong, but I’m also standing with President Xi.” Whatever.

* Pre-President Trump Lindsey Graham: “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed. And we will deserve it.” Alas, the destruction–in the form of constitutional crises and non-white targeting to planet endangerment and foreign-policy chaos–should never have been about a political party. And while the solicitous, sycophantic Republican Party deserves its Trump-inflicted fractures and behind-the-scenes paranoia, the rest of us sure in hell don’t.

Dem Notes

* Black voters are expected to comprise a quarter of all Democratic primary voters next year. That’s a higher percentage than ever before. Among those notably impacted: Joe Biden, who remains popular among African-American voters, minority candidates Cory Booker and Kamala Harris who haven’t moved the black needle very much, and Pete Buttigieg, who hasn’t moved the needle at all.

* Not that it’s equivalent to anything that Trump did, but it’s still fair to ask: When Hunter Biden took that seat on the board of Ukraine’s Burisma Group in 2014–in a geopolitical-hotspot country notorious for corruption–what was the response of Hunter’s father and Hunter’s president? Raised brows?

* “I believe my unique set of experiences in business, government and philanthropy will enable me to win and lead.” That was Mike Bloomberg, the billionaire former New York mayor, in announcing his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. The environment, gun laws and medical research will be top Bloomberg priorities. And did we mention that he’s one of the richest guys in the world?

Bloomberg also has enough cachet and cred to make it to the “Saturday Night Live” debate parodies. Former SNL cast member Fred Armisen returns to play the part. It’s not as high-profile as Woody Harrelson as Joe Biden or Kate MacKinnon as Elizabeth Warren, but it’s a good send-up and well-timed exposure, especially for someone not actually participating in the primary-prepping debates.

Media Matters

* Can only imagine how the last season of “The Crown” will treat Trump, Brexit, Boris Johnson, Harry and Megan and the Prince Andrew-Jeffrey Epstein connection. Just when we might have thought it was all behind us.

* The “Joker” has already passed the $1 billion mark in revenues worldwide. And, yes, “Joker 2” is already a given.

*  “A movie has to feel like an event. Otherwise, people say, ‘Ehh, let’s just watch Netflix.'”  That was Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst at Comscore, giving new meaning to “cinema verite.”

Tampa Bay Tidbits

* Scientists have been pointing to out-of-sync circadian rhythms–humans’ 24-hour biological clocks–as the cause of jet lag. Now airlines, airports and hotels are actively addressing it. That includes downtown’s Tampa Marriott Water Street hotel, which has nearly three dozen rooms with circadian mood lighting that changes hues to simulate the solar cycle from bright to soft light. No, lava lamps are not nearly as effective.

* You just know that in certain political and developmental circles the project to remake Clearwater’s waterfront is referred blissfully as “Imagine Clearwater–Without Scientology.”

Sports Shorts

* If I’m a Rays’ fan, I’m a lot more concerned about Major League Baseball scenarios in Orlando, the “Dreamers,” than in Montreal, the “ExRays.” Orlando wanted in back in the 1990s, when expansion franchises were awarded to Miami and Tampa Bay. They still do, and Miami and Tampa Bay now have track records to sigh for. They rank last and next-to-last, respectively, in attendance. Meanwhile Orlando, with NBA and MLS franchises, continues to morph as a market with 80 million tourists annually and a TV market now ranked 18th nationally. If I’m Rays’ management, I’m even more concerned.

The Orlando Schemers say expansion is more likely than relocation. For now. But they would be hard pressed to convince anyone that MLB would chance putting a third franchise in Florida, especially when one of the underperforming incumbents is right down the I-4 road.

* It still seems ironic–and weird–that the most popular spectator sport in this major southwest Florida market is hockey–not football or baseball. We know the reasons, but it still seems weird.

Quoteworthy

* “People who are captured by religious extremism–male or female, old or young–have their consciences destroyed, lose their humanity and murder without blinking an eye.”–Chinese President Xi Jinping.

* “Thank God nobody is accusing us anymore of interfering in the U.S. elections. Now they’re accusing Ukraine.”–Russian President Vladimir Putin.

* “This is exactly what the Russian government was hoping for. They would pit one side of our electorate against the others. We are running out of time to stop them.”–Former White House national security aide Fiona Hill in her testimony before the House Intelligence  Committee.

* “I did say to (Ambassador Gordon Sondland), ‘I think this is all going to blow up. And here we are.”–Fiona Hill.

* “Each round of GOP questioning is not meant to interrogate the witnesses … but instead to create moments that can be flipped into Fox News segments, shared as bite-sized Facebook posts or dropped into 4chan threads.”–Ryan Broderick, BuzzFeed News.

* “Today’s democracies don’t die at the hands of generals, but at the hands of elected leaders–presidents, prime ministers. Many citizens are not fully aware of what’s happening until it’s too late. I never thought I would be seeing it in the U.S.”–Steven Levitsky, Harvard political scientist and co-author of “How Democracies Die.”

* “The myth of the ‘adults in the room’ has persisted since the beginning of the (Trump) Administration, but it has never been accurate. There is no managing Donald Trump, no way to preserve one’s integrity while doing what is necessary to remain powerful in his orbit.”–Susan Glasser, the New Yorker.

* “The reasonable guess (on impeachment conviction) is Republican senators will call to let the people decide. In a divided country, this is the right call. But they should take seriously the idea of censuring (Trump) for abuse of power.”–Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal.

* “Trump’s foreign policy has metastasized from bad to worse in recent months. Fighting the good fight, even while losing, might be the useful Dunkirk option in response to the Toddler in Chief–saving what can be saved in the face of overwhelming force. A wholesale exodus of policymakers would make the situation worse, not better.”–Daniel W. Drezner, professor of international politics at Tufts University.

*  “I no longer share the same understanding with the (president) who appointed me, in regards to the key principle of good order and discipline.”–Former Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, who was recently dismissed by President Trump.

* “His cyclical urges can’t be suppressed for long.”–“Anonymous,” the author of “A Warning.”

* “The impeachment proceedings this week have shown me how far the left will go to destroy their opponents.”–U.S. Rep. Ross Spano, R-Dover.

* “Time is running out on the most important trade event of the Trump Administration.”–American Enterprise Institute scholar Derek Scissors, on the prolonged negotiations on a final congressional agreement on the revised NAFTA trade deal. Officials from Canada and Mexico have already signed off on the NAFTA replacement.

* “We very much believe that cause-based advertising has value and can help drive public conversation around important topics. But we still don’t think it should be used with the sort of primary goal of driving  political or judicial or legislative or regulatory outcomes.”–Del Harvey, vice president of trust and safety at Twitter.

* “Polling is one of those things like military battles: You always refight the last war.”–Joshua D. Clinton, Vanderbilt University political scientist and member of the American Association of Public Opinion Research Committee.

* “She took the canon and broke it open.”–Oprah Winfrey, speaking at the celebration-of-life for novelist Toni Morrison.

* “For Florida, it’s working. There are people here who need health insurance, and this is their option.”–Jodi Ray, executive director of Florida Covering Kids & Families, on data released by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services showing Florida with nearly half a million people signing up for the Affordable Care Act in the first three weeks of enrollment.

* “David’s commitment to and love of the performing arts and of this community was beyond compare, and we cannot thank him enough for the impact he has made on the lives of so many. His philanthropic legacy will continue to live on our stages and inspire the hearts and minds of us all.”–Judy Lisi, CEO of the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, on the death of David A. Straz Jr.

* “The Ybor City market is growing tremendously, with a younger, vibrant demographic moving into the urban core.”–Mario Tricoci, co-founder of Chicago’s Aparium Hotel Group, which is building the four-story, $52-million Hotel Haya in Ybor City. The Haya’s opening is set for the spring of 2020.

* “It’s really about unlocking Tampa, unlocking opportunity and doing that all over the city.”–Carole Post, Tampa’s newly named administrator for development and economic opportunity.

* “This was just a fantastic year, and you’ve got to recognize that.”–Port Tampa Bay Commissioner Patrick Allman, on rewarding Port Tampa Bay CEO Paul Anderson with a 5 percent merit raise. Over the past year, the port has seen the arrival of three new weekly container ships from Asia, the completion of a deep-water channel expansion and the patronage of more than a million cruise ship passengers.

* “Rather than just trying to undercut and steal a passenger from another airline, their whole strategy is to convince people to fly that perhaps have not flown before.”–Chris Minner, TIA’s executive vice president of marketing and communications, on the rapid growth of the low-cost, Florida-based Spirit Airlines.