Sunburn — The Morning Read Of What’s Hot In Florida Politics — 8.18.21

  By Peter Schorsch    

Good Wednesday morning.

We have our first poll of Marco Rubio vs. Val Demings and, well, both sides should be happy.

Rubio leads Demings, 48 to 46 percent, with 6 percent undecided in the race for Florida’s U.S. Senate seat. The poll was conducted for Florida Politics by St. Pete Polls.

Rubio, the incumbent, should be pleased that he is leading his Democratic challenger. Demings should be excited that she is within two points of Rubio.

The poll also have some interesting numbers on who would win a prospective 2024 race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

— SITUATIONAL AWARENESS —

—@LarrySabato: You’d never know it from the TV coverage we’re watching, but President (Joe) Biden‘s address on #Afghanistan was effective because he stressed that America’s longest war must end, and there will never be a good time to do it. That connected with most people — 70% of whom want out now.

—@TheRecount: WH Press Sec. Jen Psaki on @davidaxelrod calling her the “best press secretary,” but saying President Biden “needs to own that failure” of the Afghanistan pullout: “There’s a difference between being on the outside and speaking on television and being on the inside …”

—@DrDenaGrayson: Red states now far surpass (Donald) Trump’s “s***hole countries” for #COVID19 cases per capita

Tweet, tweet:

—@JNicholsonInDC: In the gubernatorial sweepstakes to champion monoclonal antibodies, (Greg) Abbott just outplayed (Ron) DeSantis with the “I’m also a client” card.

—@RobertMaguie_: My favorite Chinese idiom is 脫褲子放屁 (“taking your pants off to fart”). It’s useful in describing things that are needlessly complicated, like a Governor offering a costly, experimental treatment for a disease that people can avoid by getting a cheap vaccine and wearing a mask

—@NateMonroeTU: As soon as Richard Corcoran began speaking, a violent storm knocked out my power and internet. Last I heard was … “We have a surgeon general,” which is amusing because you’d never know that!

—@DWSTweets: This anti-science decision needlessly endangers students, teachers and staff. @GovRonDeSantis & state education leaders must provide a safe learning environment, not promote reckless, quack COVID theories.

—@BsFarrington: Waking up in the middle of the night to see death threats and hate messages from people about a story @GovRonDeSantis office said is factually true. For your sake, I hope government doesn’t threaten your safety. I’ll be fine. I hope. Freedom. Just Please don’t kill me.

—@DJGroup: I look forward to reopening of Chuck’s Fish for lunch in downtown Tallahassee. We have to support them when they do.