Blogged from the road by Brad Friedman
Once thought to have been a “safe” Republican U.S. House seat in Florida’s 24th Congressional district the race to defeat the once-powerful incumbent Rep. Tom Feeney now appears to be up for grabs, according to a new Zogby International poll.
Computer programmer turned vote-rigging whistleblower turned Democratic Congressional candidate Clint Curtis is now in a virtual dead heat with Feeney, despite the sitting Congressman’s enormous campaign treasury funded by top-tier GOP funders and corporate PAC money.
Curtis’ campaign has, to date, been funded only by individuals across the nation via the Internet. Neither the DNC nor the Democratic Campaign Congressional Committee (DCCC) has contributed funding to Curtis’s race, which now appears set to possibly unseat the once powerful Republican House Deputy Whip.
The inequity in funding may all now (hopefully) change as Feeney is seen as leading Curtis by only 2 points in the new poll commissioned by Election Integrity organization VelvetRevolution.us.
The Zogby poll showing the dead heat also reveals that Curtis is leading among likely voters who describe themselves as independent by a full 11 points!
According to the report from Zogby International of 402 likely voters in Florida’s 24th district when asked “If the election for Congress were held today and the candidates were Democrat Clint Curtis and Republican Tom Feeney, for whom would you vote?” respondents replied as follows:
Curtis – 43
Other – 2
Not sure – 10
The race for the U.S. House of Representatives in Florida’s 24th District is a virtual toss-up. Incumbent Tom Feeney holds the slimmest of leads over challenger Clint Curtis, 45% to 43%, with one in ten (10%) undecided.
Each candidate leads big among his own party’s members, but Curtis leads among independents, 48% to 37%.
The two point difference between Curtis and Feeney is well within the poll’s +/- 5% margin of error. As we’re currently on the road, and scrambling with a number of breaking stories even while barrelling down the highway towards home, we hope to have more details on the poll after we get the opportunity to review the internals, which look very good indeed for the challenger Curtis.
(DISCLOSURE: The BRAD BLOG is a co-founder of VelvetRevolution.us)
Feeney (R-Abramoff), the one-time gubernatorial running mate of Jeb Bush and close friend of the Bush family, carved out what was believed to have been an extremely “conservative” 24th Congressional district for himself while Speaker of the Florida House. Ascending to the U.S. House in 2002, Feeney was not even challenged for the seat in 2004, as he was thought to be unbeatable. Many Florida papers have continued to knee-jerk report on the race in those terms despite the lack of any known polling for the contest between Feeney and Curtis until now.
Curtis is the computer programmer and political novice who has alleged (as we originally broke back in December of 2004), that he was asked by Feeney to create electronic vote-rigging software back in 2000 when both men worked together for the Oviedo, Florida, software firm, Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI). At the time, Feeney was YEI’s general counsel and registered lobbyist even while he was Speaker of the Florida House and even while they had multi-million dollar contracts with the state. Feeney has since been named one of the “Most Corrupt Members of Congress” two years in a row by the D.C. ethics watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
He remains the only sitting U.S. Congressman who went with Jack Abramoff on one of the lobbyist-paid golf trips to St. Andrews, Scotland, who has yet to be indicted.
Feeney has mounted a costly smear campaign attempting to label Curtis as “crazy” and unfit for office in light of the charges. Yet Feeney’s campaign, which has included a number of documented lies, unevidenced claims and attacks, and even a controversial mailing which offended voters when it included doctored photos of Curtis and a Hustler magazine cover — seems to have backfired.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal, which reported on a number of Feeney’s ethical lapses over the years, recently endorsed Curtis over Feeney, criticizing the sitting Congressman for “not really talking issues in this campaign” and “choosing to focus largely on denigrating his opponent.” Curtis, meanwhile, the paper says, “is an independent thinker” who has “prepared well” for office.
Curtis, once a Republican until his dealings with Feeney soured him on the party, made his allegations concerning Feeney and YEI long ago via sworn affidavit, video-taped testimony to a Congressional panel, and a polygraph test, which he has called on Feeney to take. Feeney has denied Curtis’s allegations, many of which have since been documented via state and federal reports as accurate, but has refused to either take a similar polygraph test, or even meet face to face with Curtis.
His story has also been highlighted in a number of documentaries. We recently posted documentary video footage from the film Eternal Vigilance, which tells the basics of Curtis’s story through interviews with the whistleblower.
The Clint Curtis/Tom Feeney/Yang Enterprises Vote-Rigging Scandal series, please see:
– A Quick Summary of the story so far.
– An Index of all the Key Articles & Evidence in the series so far.
– Curtis is now running for U.S. Congress against Feeney.
To support or for more info, see: www.ClintCurtis.com
Maybe Abramoff R-Feeney has somthing to say
It appears they gave Jack his own desk at FBI HQ, ’cause hes been soo chatty
Link
So, it’s close enough to, say… give Feeney a 51% to 49% “victory” in the election, right? These e-machines have GOT to go…
Go Curtis! However, with the irregularities of the Florida voting process, sad to say, he probably would need a 10-point poll lead just to be safe.
I have a new ‘election fraud’ update, including… the latest from Maryland and California, plus 2 links (with excerpts) to excellent Op-Eds from the Denver Post and Philadelphia Inquirer.
“The Nightmare Before Election Day” is at
http://scootmandubious.blogspot...ction-day.html
Mrs. Yang and YEI may be enough to indict Feeney sometime soon…then when Abrahamoff talks, that will be the frosting on the cake for Feeney. Go Clint, Go!
We need your honest approach to politics! With each passing day and the investigation/indictment of another corrupt GOP-ster, it’s crystal clear that the american people have been duped and it’s time for a change….
I’d also like to see some chatter about Katherine Harris’s obvious botched recount in 2000 and her corrupt connections in the state.
Are there any sources (AP, Reuters, press release, etc) that have results of this poll? I’d like to pass it along, but it would be nice if there was independent confirmation of this dead heat.
Thanks.
I have a question: How can there even be enough Feeney voters to make it a dead heat??? We have a candidate Clint Curtis who is exposing the biggest story of our time, electronic vote fraud via undetectable vote-switching software (I am a computer programmer, that is very easy to do) vs. possibly the “father of vote fraud” Tom Feeney!!! The first one to commission a programmer to write vote fraud switching software!!! wtf???
Keep in mind, electronic vote machines have been PROVEN IN LIVE EXPERIMENTS to be hacked into and votes switched UNDETECTED! PROVEN!!! Princeton, blackboxvoting.org, Hursti, and others. This is not “UFO” National Inquirer, unless you think Princeton is “tin foil hat”…anyone who says this, knows it’s true, that’s why they say “tin foil hat”, etc…that is the tipoff of someone who knows it’s true.
Here’s “tin foil hat”: There’s WMD’s in Iraq, Sadaam had ties with Al Queda, the Republicans will get rid of abortion, flag burning, and gay rights if they get the House, Senate, and presidency, Abramoff scandal was bi-partisan (see Bill Moyers “Capitol Crimes”), etc…I can go on and on.
Which leads me back to that propoganda story Concerned Friend linked to: ALL OF THE THINGS I MENTIONED ABOVE WERE PIMPED AS BEING TRUE BY THE CORPORATE MAINSTREAM MEDIA AND WERE LATER FOUND TO BE NOT TRUE, BUT THIS IDIOT SAYS THAT THE BLOGOSPHERE SHOULD RELY ON THE CORPORATE MAINSTREAM MEDIA TO BE THE “INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS”!!!!!!
Did I give enough proof that that guy is full of shit?
Let me tell you hiow ther are enough Feeney voters to mak it a dead heat!!! No one cares about vote fraud!!! Clint was on a radio show today in Volusia County trying to explain it and the entire call in audience was totally brain dead….!!! They said things like “talk about what people care about”, “no one cares about this vote stuff”, etc.,etc…then the proceeded to talk about violence in schools, local referendums, etc.etc….sigh….very, very disconcerting.
Emma
The call in people were Feeney ringers, Emma
Probably the same ones that ran the Crazy Clint blog
JDM – The poll results, in full, should be released by Zogby tomorrow.
OMG, that’s so great to hear. It’s been really frustrating that no one was polling this race. I’ve been posting and commenting on other blogs trying to raise money for Clint, but most people are hesistant because they don’t want to “waste” resources on a long shot. Let’s see what they say now! Thanks Brad.
Clint’s Secret Weapon:
What the polls don’t show, and the Feeney people don’t realize, is that the Clint Curtis voters are angry, angry, ANGRY, and *energized* to go out and vote Feeney out of office!!!! If you are a Clint supporter, please, please, please, do your all to ensure that all your family and friends can make it to the voting booth on election day!
There is no way in heck that Feeney voters are in any way, shape, or form, energized to go vote. First, consider Feeney’s terrible, lacklustre performance while in office for lo so many years. Not only that, but also consider Feeney’s stupid, child-ranting, name-calling “anti-Clint” campaign. It has totally backfired! Who among Feeney supporters would feel an extra “oomph” to go vote after such a reprehensible, ungentlemanlike name-calling campaign by Feeney? Who?Only those that can identify with name-calling and childishness as a way of life. And thankfully, there aren’t many.
Go Clint!!! We’re all behind you!!!
Thanks Brad!
Great news, Brad! My only reservation is your “up for grabs” choice of words…
Excellent news!
BTW, my mom just returned to MD from her summer in the northeast boonies, we were talking about Foley, and purely as an aside she added “Now, you know he’s a Democrat don’t you?” Er. She’d heard it from several news sources. And yes, she’s been straightened out. But how many others out there still believe?
Brad – When was the poll conducted (the actual phone calls made)?
WHISTLE BLOWER Clint Curtis will be a guest on TVNL RADIO LIVE
Tonight (Thursday), October 26, 2006! 8 pm ET
TvNewsLIES.org Radio Show Live
Email or IM the show with your comments and questions!
Brad was the first to reveal Clint Curtis’ original meeting in 2000 when Tom Feeney, the incoming speaker of the FL House & one-time running mate of Jeb Bush, asked him to create a “vote-rigging software prototype” while employeed at Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI)!
Clint is presently a candidate for Congress in Florida’s 24th Congressional District…and is in a dead heat with opponent Feeney.
Give him some support by tuning in and wishing him luck.
Woohoo, GO Clint GO!
While doing research for my radio show (Wizzy Radio on Live365.com)- I found the Curtis/Feeney story and it was quite a shock to not see this story in the main stream media.
I have done a segment on this story and it will air starting Thursday.
On the issue of voting fraud- it’s like the jury has been out since 2000. The jury should come in with a verdict on Nov 7th- when they elect Mr. Curtis to Congress.
I’m from Minnesota- but this race is one of the most important in the country- as far as I’m concerned. Good luck Clint!!!! We’re very proud of what you stand for!
Brad,
please change the color layout of your site. It is very difficult to read. In fact, I NEVER make it through an article. Yellow on Green. Forget it. Too hard on the eyes. Yellow on Brown. Just doesn’t work. How about Black on White? The contrast works wonderfully. I’m sure the content of your site is thoughtful and meaningful but the color combo is unbearable.
First off, GO, CLINT!!!!
Second, in answer to “How could there be enough Feeney voters..” I volunteer at an assisted living facility, and there are some very narrow senior women who are sold on Feeney and believe that Clint would stop their Social Security and raise their taxes, courtesy of Feeney’s latest smear mailing. I was proud to wear my “Clint Curtis for Congress” shirt today while I volunteered.
Stand your ground, Clint. I am tired of these surrender monkeys like jon carry and lamont – surrenderin’ before the votes are counted – leaving their hard-working supporters holding the bag. No more Stalking Horse RW candidates pretending to be democratic challengers.
I am still sickened by the murder of Ray Lemme who was honestly doing his job unlike the massive corruptibles in so many high places. Ray Lemme is an example of why the corrupt bush nazis have gotten away with so much. We need to find a way to protect our whistleblowers and public officials who are risking their lives by collecting evidence of the destruction of our democracy by the bush crime family and their supporters.
zogby poll suggests feeney 45, curtis 43? do you have the url for that poll, seems a little bit far off, if the final result is feeney 58, curtis 42.
Very important to get the corrupt feeney out of OUR CONGRESS for good. I have great admiration for Clint Curtis for his testimony despite threats from Feeney and for running against this bush mafia tool. Feeney has to go.
Clint has some great links to articles and videos about his story and election fraud in feeney’s former district.
http://www.clintcurtis.com /
http://www.citizensforethics.or...gn.php?view=77