Elected Republicans backing Democrat in South Florida Congressional race

Five Republican elected officials from Miami-Dade County have endorsed Raul Martinez, Democratic candidate for Florida’s 21st Congressional District. They have also formed a new group called Republicans for Raul to appeal to registered Republicans to back the former Hialeah mayor against the incumbent Republican, Lincoln Diaz-Balart.

The five are all Hialeah politicians: Hialeah Gardens Mayor Yioset De La Cruz, Hialeah City Council vice president Carlos Hernandez, Hialeah councilmen Luis Gonzalez and José Caragol, and Hialeah Gardens councilman Luciano “Lucky” Garcia.

Congressional races in Miami were so predictable in the past, they weren't much of a race at all. This year is promising to be very different.

David Adams, Times staff writer

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Comments

So republicans r backing the democrat and the democrat debbie wasserman shultz is supporting the republican

When did Miami flip?

payback always sucks

[Ronnie R.]

As all Republican elected officials do they take and oath not to support candidates from the other party. They won't be republicans much longer go get them Chairman Greer for the traders they are.

[Bryan]

Since they are all municipal office holders, my guess would be that their positions are non-partisan, but their official registration is Republican. In that case, they are not required to sign a loyalty oath.

[you]

In the wake of Sarah Palin's smashing debut as a major American political figure last night, some in the media are sulking over the public backlash to their outrageous treatment of her in the first few days of her national role, since being announced 6 days ago as a running mate. Case in point: the normally level-headed Roger Simon of The Politico:

On behalf of the elite media, I would like to say we are very sorry.

We have asked questions this week that we should never have asked.

We have asked pathetic questions like: Who is Sarah Palin? What is her record? Where does she stand on the issues? And is she is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency?

We have asked mean questions like: How well did John McCain know her before he selected her? How well did his campaign vet her? And was she his first choice?

Bad questions. Bad media. Bad.

It is not our job to ask questions. Or it shouldn't be. To hear from the pols at the Republican National Convention this week, our job is to endorse and support the decisions of the pols.

Bitter sarcasm accompanied by studious ignoring of the trashing of Palin by the liberal media is most unbecoming, Roger. Are you unaware of Campbell Brown's snarky comments about Palin as a mother? How about Sally Quinn? Or the three NYT front page stories in one day attacking her.

To be fair, Simon has not been in the gutter with this lot. But why haven't we read more about the clash between Sarah and Big Oil? Why haven't we read about the billions of dollars she has added to state revenues at the expense of Big Oil? Why haven't we read about the indicted pols in Alaska?

The media continue to slit their own throats with their arrogance, meanness, and contempt for not just Palin, but all the people in Middle America who identify with her. Like cornered animals, they lash out regardless of the effectiveness.

Sarah Palin knows a lot about dealing with cornered animals, I suspect.

Hey Ronnie, ever heard of punctuation? Or proper spelling for that matter? It's "traitors", not "trades", you uneducated troglodite!