Guess who's being groomed for a promotion?
by digby
If you said Patrick Murphy, you'd be right. Chuck Schumer is very high on Murphy to fill Marco Rubio's Senate seat. You see, only in the Democratic Party do they go out of their way to promote from among the top 10 congressmen who vote with the other party for the Senate. This can only be because they like that voting pattern and would like more of this, (which just happened last week):
On Tuesday night, Murphy was the only Democrat in the House to vote for two amendments by Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, aimed at blocking funding for the train. One Posey amendment failed on a 260-173 vote and another failed on a 275-148 vote. Grayson joined the rest of the Democratic caucus-- including Palm Beach County Reps. Lois Frankel, Ted Deutch and Alcee Hastings-- in opposing the Posey amendments. Grayson sent out a press release saying he “rallied with Congresswoman Corrine Brown (FL-5) and nearly every other House Democrat Tuesday night” to oppose the “anti-transportation” amendments. Grayson’s release also singles out Murphy as “the lone Democrat to side with Posey and the majority of Republicans who voted to hamper private financing for All Aboard Florida.”
Said Grayson: “All Aboard Florida will improve the lives of thousands of Floridians … Mr. Posey’s amendments will limit investment in projects like All Aboard Florida, and put us even farther behind the rest of the world when it comes to high-speed rail. We have an opportunity to improve the environment, get cars off the roads, and help the economies of both Miami and Orlando with this project. It makes zero sense to do anything that slows it down.” Murphy, on Facebook, posted: “My colleague Rep. Bill Posey offered several amendments to the Transportation spending bill this week to prohibit funding for All Aboard Florida. I’m very disappointed to see that the House did not approve his amendments, but we’ll continue to work together to stop All Aboard Florida.”
Murphy was the only Democrat in the Florida delegation to vote with the Republicans to gut a transportation bill. Why in the world would the Party think he'd be an asset in the Senate?
Florida isn't one of those classic Red States where you have no choice but to find the most conservative Democrat they can find (and then lose anyway.) It's a classic swing state that already boasts a Democratic Senator who is in the mainstream of his party. You'll have to ask Schumer and gang why they feel they need to recruit a right winger for that seat.
Luckily, there are real progressives in Florida like Grayson who will likely run against Murphy in the primary. But the DC insiders really want Murphy. Apparently, it's just getting too hard to past the centrist/conservative agenda with all those progressives in congress.
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