Florida’s Wasserman Schultz leads Democrats’ campaign to tie GOP to Tea Party
By William E. Gibson, Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — South Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz will help lead a nationwide Democratic campaign this fall that will try to tie Republican candidates to extreme elements of the Tea Party movement.
The Weston Democrat’s prominent role reflects her emergence as a rising party leader, and she said her travel schedule will reflect her commitment to the party’s effort to retain control of Congress.
“I’m running for re-election in my own district, and I’m going to spend plenty of time there,” Wasserman Schultz said after the announcement. “But I’m also going to spend time around the country trying to help my colleagues who are in tough races get re-elected and also Democratic candidates who want to bring about the change that Americans asked for in 2008.”
Wasserman Schultz, vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, laughed off the prospect of being counter-attacked by Republicans.
“I think I’m already a lightning rod for Republicans,” she said. “I think that horse is out of the box.”
At a press conference on Wednesday, national Democratic Chairman Tim Kaine, along with Wasserman Schultz and five other party leaders, displayed a mock “Republican Tea Party Contract on America,” which they said would be the party agenda if the GOP were to win control of Congress. It lists repeal of the health-care reform law, “privatizing” Social Security, ending Medicare in its present form and abolishing the departments of education and energy.
Repealing the health-care law is central to the GOP leadership’s campaign mantra, but few Republican candidates and not all Tea Party believers embrace all these positions. The Democrats hope to use them to define GOP candidates as out of the mainstream.
“All incumbents including Debbie Wasserman Schultz should concern themselves with their own races and not go out and unfairly tie candidates to issues they think are divisive,” said Chip LaMarca, former Broward County Republican chairman. “She should be down here working in her own district.”
Wasserman Schultz, accustomed to running unopposed in her overwhelmingly Democratic district, this year faces a trio of Republican challengers — Karen Harrington of Davie, Robert Lowry of Hollywood and Donna Milo of Miami. Also on the November ballot will be no-party affiliation candidates Stanley Blumenthal of Sunrise and Robert Kunst of Miami Beach, plus write-in candidate Clayton Schock of Sunrise.
Election analysts, such as The Cook Political Report, figure Wasserman Schultz will win easily, a prospect that frees her to campaign for more vulnerable Democrats.
Defeating Wasserman Schultz “is going to be a challenge. It’s going to be an uphill battle,” acknowledged Sharon Day of Fort Lauderdale, a Republican national committeewoman and secretary of the national party. But, she added, “I think it’s doable.”