Last night I attended my first meeting of the Broward Republican Executive Committee (BREC). As a member of the Palm Beach REC I was interested to see the way another county ran their meetings. In addition I attended the meeting as a member of the Lynch for Congress campaign and because former Speaker of the Florida House and current U.S. Senate candidate, Marco Rubio was scheduled to speak to the group in advance of their straw poll.
The meeting started on time and there were approximately 400 people in attendance. Based on what people that attend BREC meetings regularly said, I'd estimate that about half the crowd was present specifically to hear Marco speak. Rubio spoke for about 10-12 minutes, talking about the conservative principles that the GOP needs to get back to if we're going to be successful in taking back the U.S. House and Senate in 2010. He was very well received and got several standing ovations. I was disappointed that he didn't speak longer or take any questions from the group. I learned later that Marco had been asked to limit his remarks and not take questions due to the long list of agenda items on the BREC schedule.
After Marco Rubio finished speaking he slipped out a side door and took time to speak with supporters, shake hands, take pictures and speak to the media. He was very generous with his time and patiently listened to and answered every question in his usual common sense way. Having interviewed Marco on my BlogTalkRadio.com Internet radio show; Conservative Republican Forum and spoken to him on the phone, I was pleased to finally get to meet him in person and shake his hand.
The next speaker at the BREC meeting was candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Florida CD-19, Edward Lynch. Ed is a true conservative, a businessman and a tireless fighter. He is the GOP frontrunner for the nomination and ran against Robert Wexler in the 2008 election. Ed gave one of his usual fiery speeches and showed why he's the man to beat in this race. The crowd responded very favorably to his remarks.
Edward Lynch and his campaign team have been working and fighting to defeat Robert Wexler for two years. Their efforts achieved what we all wanted, Wexler has resigned. Now we have a special election (probably in February or March) against Florida State Senator Ted Deutsch and we have GOP latecomers to the race trying, not just to follow the trail that the Lynch Campaign has blazed, but trying to take credit for Wexler's resignation.
One thing that both the Palm Beach and Broward RECs have in common is that our members recognize we're in an uphill battle in District 19, two-thirds of which is in Palm Beach County with the remaining third in Broward County. The Democrats are smart enough to avoid a contentious special primary. The Democrats outnumber the GOP in Florida Congressional District 19, a contentious special primary will not lead us to victory.
It's time for the Republican Party to come together behind Edward Lynch in the special election. If Joe Budd and Curt Price want to run against Lynch in the November general election, they should do that. But to waste money and resources in a special election primary would be folly. Ed Lynch is the GOP frontrunner because he's earned that position. Ed may have opponents, but he has no rivals!
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