TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Have Voters Gotten Enough Gus Mileage?

ADVERTISEMENT

By STEVE OTTO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 6, 2008

We are living in a parallel universe.

The media outlets are convinced that you cannot get enough of Barack Obama, who is here to restore the throne of Camelot, and his stodgier, less charismatic opponent John McCain.

For months, although it is beginning to seem like years, the media have analyzed every phrase and innuendo coming from either camp. Since neither camp has actually said much, other than the usual platitudes, nobody is listening.

Meanwhile, in the other universe, the one people actually inhabit, things are rapidly spiraling out of control. Jobs are disappearing, prices of just about everything are soaring and the only thing going down is the public's confidence that this is just a temporary setback.

Now that the Fourth of July is past, we are officially headed to the down side of the year, which means that all those local and state elections nobody has ever heard about are beginning to creep into view. There are going to be some lulus. Here's just one.

Weird! Just Keep Turning Right

Congressional District 9 is one weird district. It begins in Pasco County just north of Hudson, drifts down into Clearwater before meandering east across the northern reaches of Hillsborough County all the way to Plant City and finally going south in the direction of Apollo Beach.

For years it was the personal redoubt of Republican Mike Bilirakis, a consummate politician who understood the importance of a strong staff that would take care of citizens when they called with problems, from Social Security to getting an autographed picture from the White House.

Finally it was time to abandon the rubber chicken circuit and turn the reins over to another generation. That would be his son, Gus.

Gus didn't seem to have all of the tools that his father had used to lord over such a diverse realm, but he did have one thing going for him ... he is a Bilirakis.

His opponent that first time out was former Hillsborough County Commissioner Phyllis Busansky, a traditional liberal Democrat and someone who had been an effective powerful reform commissioner in Hillsborough County.

None of that was enough to keep Bilirakis the younger from handily winning what is an essentially conservative district.

Now From The Other Direction...

That was two years ago. The perception is that once you are elected to Congress, you have to mess up badly to get bounced. Most observers would say that Bilirakis the younger has not messed up. They might also say he has been ineffective and pretty much a waste of space and money, but at least he hasn't messed up.

Is that enough to justify sending him back and saying this all will be yours until another Bilirakis generation comes along?

Meet John Dicks. Dicks is a Democrat from Plant City, where he was on that city's commission and served as mayor. Dicks is a solid Democrat, Baptist and son of a hardware store owner. He is able to put more than two sentences together. He is smart enough to know that the core of this district is conservative, largely in Hillsborough County, and hurting.

I wouldn't want to be an incumbent on any side of the fence, and you have to wonder what Bilirakis might be thinking now that he has to take on someone coming from the opposite direction from Busansky.

This will be a good one.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT