Did anyone else see Rick Kriseman’s statement about not running for re-election? About how the right wing control in Tallahassee and the partisanship made it so difficult to get anything done besides basic rearguard actions?

And then how he waxed rhapsodic about his time on the city council and all you can get done in the venue?

Anyone else notice how the mayoral election is in 2013, so that running for re-election to the state house in 2012 would be problematic for anyone who also wanted to run for St. Pete mayor?

Yeah, me too.

Democratic State Senator Nan Rich just announced that she would be running for governor in 2014.

This is a good thing.

I am not saying that I support her or that she’ll be a good candidate, but it could help galvanize the Democratic bench of candidates who believe they might be suited for running for statewide office.

Florida Democratic Party Chair Rod Smith has never ruled himself out as a candidate for governor in 2014. This should help force him to, once the 2012 elections are over, either admit he is interested in running (in which case, he would have to resign as chair) or firmly say that he will not be running for governor (though I always thought he’d be a better candidate for attorney general or ag commissioner).

Alex Sink has dropped clear hints that she might run again. While she certainly won’t announce this year, Rich’s announcement could push Sink to begin building a team and developing a clear message of what she stands for how and how that stand distinguishes her from Florida’s grifter-in-chief, Rick Scott.

Likewise, if Crist intends to make a go of it as a Democrat, this will push him to speed the pubic acknowledgement of his party affiliation – publicly saying that the more moderate Democratic party better represents where he stands than the far right machines of mindless ideology and shameless person profit that is the Florida GOP.

And folks like Dan Gelber, Loranne Ausley, Pam Iorio, and others (I left out Dave Aronberg because he is running for Palm Beach County State Attorney right now) will face similar pressure.

All in all, that’s a good thing. And if the nominee should finally be Nan Rich, she’ll have my blessing and a contribution.

Where does the GOP anoint the a depressingly uninspiring candidate for president? Why in America’s second most pessimistic city!

The most depressing mall ever.

Florida Democrats should be worrying about two things and neither of them involve moving a lot of resources into helping Obama win Florida.

The Obama campaign will put a lot of resources into swing areas like Tampa Bay and Orlando, as well as in areas rich in Democratic voters like Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

Yes, Obama losing Florida would be a blow to the state’s Democrats – and a big one. But state and local party organizations need to trust his campaign to handle that.

And while there are some winnable seats out at the Congressional level (one in Central Florida, along with potential upsets against David Rivera, assuming a strong candidate can be fielded, and against Vern Buchanan who already faces a strong opponent in Keith Fitzgerald), the fact is that, speaking locally of the Tampa Bay area, Castor is not in trouble (in terms of protecting Dem incumbents) and neither Young nor Bilirakis are going to come anywhere close to losing in November.

So what should be the priorities?

Number one is getting Bill Nelson re-elected. Losing the last statewide Democrat elected would be a terrible blow. He needs to win (and if you want a reason to make Obama a priority, I will offer this one – Nelson’s fortunes will likely rise and fall with Obama and an Obama loss by more than a point or two in Florida would likely mean a loss by Nelson, as well).

Number two is picking up some legislative seats. This doesn’t mean trying to take back a chamber in this cycle. It means exactly what I wrote – some legislative seats. A few. Enough to start getting a foothold. Enough to make sure that moderates in the Senate have some allies and the bare minimum in the House to engage in some parliamentary maneuvers (which is to say, hold a total of forty seats or one third of the total seats).

Finally, and this is something for next year, elect a Democrat as mayor of St. Pete.

That last one is crucial. The mayor of the state’s fourth largest city instantly becomes a figure of statewide figure importance. That person becomes a potential candidate for statewide office or for Congress (once Bill Young retires). Add this hypothetical Democrat to a mix that includes Dave Aronberg (who is running Palm Beach County Attorney), Dan Gelber, Loranne Ausley, and maybe even Alex Sink and Charlie Crist (?!), and all of a sudden you have a pretty good bench ready to go when opportunities to win statewide and federal office come up.

With a Democratic mayor in St. Pete and with Bob Buckhorn across the bay in Tampa (not to mention Alvin Brown in Jacksonville), the landscape for Democrats will look a lot different.

This has long been something I’ve harped on, but we’ve got to stop this process of candidates running for offices for which they are not ready. Nina Hayden could be a solid candidate for a local office, but come November, she is going to find that her quixotic campaign for Congress against Bill Young is between one and two million dollars short of being viable.

I love some of what Alan Grayson said while he was in Congress. He spoke out forcefully against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He spoke out against the failure of the Republicans to propose any meaningful plan to make sure every American has access to adequate, affordable healthcare.

But he was a terrible candidate.

There was little chance he would survive the terrible GOP wave of 2010 but there was every chance he could have made the sort of showing that put him within spitting distance of Webster (and therefore, given him a slim possibility of pulling it out). There was no good reason for him to have lost by 18 points and to not even have gotten 40% of the vote.

Or rather, there was a very good reason. He ran an awful campaign.

He can raise money, but in the new 9th district wherein he’s running, GOP’er John Quinones could beat him, even though the 9th was created to be a bit of Democratic vote sink (not too much of one, since that would violate the Florida Constitution since the passage of Fair Districts). John Quinones can probably raise respectable money based on his position on the Osceola County Commission and if Grayson looks to be repeating his 2010, you can bet that the RNCC will put enough resources into the district to keep things on an even keel, money-wise.

Maybe Grayson already has a campaign infrastructure, but unless he has a strong experience manager who knows how ‘manage’ candidates, things could go south fast. Someone who can keep Grayson’s most impolitic instincts from taking over, someone who will work with the candidate and the rest of the campaign staff to keep things not only ‘on message,’ but also to focus on those issues that resonate with the voters and to use a tone that doesn’t play into negative perceptions. It’s the difference between appearing as a bullying loudmouth and a blunt fighter for one’s values. The line between the two is finer than you think, which is why care needs to be taken. Two years ago, I don’t believe that happened.