By now you've probably heard the news that Republican David Jolly won yesterday's special election in Florida's 13th District. Many on the left considered the race a must-win, and some called it a predictor of the Democrat's fate in November. Frankly, it's a little pre-mature for that, but the win is striking for a few reasons:
Jolly raised less money than Democrat Alex Sink
Outside advertisers (PACs and such) spent more money attacking Jolly than Sink
FL13 voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012, and Alex Sink for Governor in 2010
Jolly managed to win by a 2 point margin, despite a well-funded Libertarian candidate (Lucas Overby) taking almost 5% of the vote
Democrats had been arguing that David Jolly's decision to base his campaign primarily around one single issue - the repeal of ObamaCare - would doom him. In fact, just a few days ago they were bragging that pre-election polls showed him trailing Alex Sink by between three and six points.
...And yet, he won.
Add it all up, and it's a very tough pill for Democrats to swallow. It may not be the iron-clad predictor that some would like it to be, but it has sparked a collective left-wing freakout - while simultaneously reassuring skittish Republicans.
Unless, of course, you're Debbie Wasserman Schultz. If you are, you've become so completely disassociated from reality that yesterday's failure is no big deal. In fact, it's encouraging. According to Schultz, if ObamaCare wasn't so darned popular, things could have been much worse:
“Republican special interest groups poured in millions to hold onto a Republican congressional district that they’ve comfortably held for nearly 60 years. Tonight, Republicans fell short of their normal margin in this district because the agenda they are offering voters has a singular focus that a majority of voters oppose: repealing the Affordable Care Act that would return us to the same old broken health care system.”
Yep, she's ignoring the Libertarian's impressive take, and the district's voting pattern in 2008, 2010, and 2012. She's ignoring the fact that Jolly was underfunded and his allies were outspent in terms of negative campign ads. She's - as per usual - ignoring every major poll that show ObamaCare is still despised by a majority of the American people.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz believes that Republicans didn't really win, because Democrats didn't lose by a larger margin. Brilliant.
Schultz still likes to claim that Democrats will, nationwide, base their 2014 campaigns on the "overwhelming popularity" that ObamaCare enjoys. Let's hope she's right.
As NBC's Chuck Todd puts it:
