This page is part of an undergraduate assignment at Davidson College.
Florida US Senate 2004
Potential Candidate Peter Deutsch
Qualifications/Boosters (Biography 2004)
Shortcomings/Pitfalls
Deutsch showed progressive ambition from the beginning of his career. He was elected to the Florida House immediately after finishing graduate school and after ten years serving there, he moved up to the US Congress. Throughout much of this, Deutsch came up against little competition, and was unopposed in several of his races (Almanac 2003). Within the Florida and US Houses, he advanced to leadership positions and promoted Florida's interests through legislation. In the state legislature, he was "viewed by colleagues as bright but abrasive, and an expert at using procedural rules to advance or torpedo legislation"(qtd. in Almanac 2003). His home territory in Southern Florida should have been a major advantage, however, two other Democrats running from the area split the vote, helping Castor win the primary. Using his fundraising prowess as well as a large war chest from his time in the House, money was abundant from the beginning of his campaign (Davies 2003). By January, he had raised over $4 million (Thomas 2004).
Deutsch aggressively pursued the seat, often referring to "fights" for legislation and against Bush (Date and Lipman 2004) . Despite being ahead in fundraising, Deutsch was behind in the polls from the time Betty Castor first entered the race. In part, this may be due to lack of name recognition. Castor was the only Democrat in the race to have previously held statewide office (All About, 2004), while a poll in 2000 showed only 25% recognition for Deutsch, the lowest of the ten figures in question (Poll 2000).
While he started the race with a positive message (Kinnard 2004), he eventually turned to negative campaigning (Date and Lipman 2004). While these attacks were seen by some as desperate attempts to make a comeback, Deutsch's criticizing of Panelas from the beginning seems to indicate his general approach (March (2) 2003). Throughout debates, he has shown that he is quick to anger ("You" 2004).
It's hard to say which of these factors held the most influence over Deutsch's ultimate loss in the primary, but from the beginning he showed great promise as a viable, quality candidate.
Send comments, questions, and suggestions to Laura Beach
Created: 9/8/04. Last updated: 9/22/04.