Democratic leader wants to re-energize

Lynn Lindeman, the newly elected chairman of the Pasco County Democratic Party, knows he has a Herculean task ahead of him.

Democrats used to dominate local elections in Pasco, but during the last decade, the party has lost its mojo. Republicans hold every elected office in the county except for tax collector — and they're gunning for that seat, too.

"We haven't been very efficient in the past at the precinct level, getting out the vote or running candidates," Lindeman admits. Barely a fourth of the county's 154 precincts have Democratic captains.

In short, the party has been floundering. In 2011, the party raised just $5,000, compared with $85,000 raised by the Pasco Republican Executive Committee.

"That was last year," Lindeman said. "Don't forget, they also spent $80,000."

A retired university administrator, Lindeman's goals for this year's county election are modest — improve fundraising and volunteer activity and help candidates get signatures for their qualifying petitions. "We've got three excellent candidates," he said.

Incumbent Tax Collector Mike Olsen faces a challenge from Republican Ed Blommel, an executive with East Pasco Habitat for Humanity. Former Pasco County Sheriff's Office Capt. Kim Bogart is making his second run for sheriff, and former Democratic Party State Committeeman Matt Murphy is in the race for the open District 3 county commission seat.

But no Democrat has filed to run for any of Pasco's three House seats or its two Senate seats. "This election cycle, it's kind of late," Lindeman said. "We're starting to work on the 2014 cycle."

For decades, Democrats outnumbered Republicans in Pasco County. It wasn't until the population boon of the 2000s that voter registration figures shifted. The GOP overtook the Democrats, and the county began to see a sharp increase in the number of independent voters.

Today, Pasco County has nearly as many registered Democrats as Republicans. Democrats have 106,186, and Republicans have 116,162.

"I talk to people all the time, and they're sold on this theory that they're in the minority," Lindeman said. "It just isn't true. I spoke to one man who told me he thought he was the only Democrat in his neighborhood. I told him there were 1,000 — it's time for them to speak up."

More than 75,000 voters are independent or registered to third parties, a large enough block to sway any local election, but Lindeman said reaching unaffiliated voters is low on his priority list.

Right now, it's about energizing the base.

"Our first priority is to get Democrats to the polls," Lindeman said. "We've lost elections because the Democrats don't go to the polls."