From Yellow Dog Democrats to Red State Republicans

David R. Colburn, “From Yellow Dog Democrats to Red State Republicans: Florida and its Politics since 1940”, University Press of Florida (2007) 220 pp.

Florida is now the nation’s third most populous state, trailing California and Texas.  Its twenty-five electoral votes cannot be ignored.  Colburn’s book explains Florida’s transition from being a traditional Dixecrat state to a solid Republican state, at least on the state level.  (Obama won the state in the most recent elections, so Democrats can still win, at least in national elections, in Florida.)   

The books historical presentation of the 1950s up to the 1986 election is judged as quite accurate by critics—not so much after 1986.  Also, the book is mostly focuses on racial issues in the early periods and taxes in the later periods.  No mention of gun control, etc., as relevant election issues.

My Notes:

Pg. 6:  A “Yellow Dog Democrat” is one who votes religiously for Democratic candidates and who, it was said, would vote for an ugly yellow dog before a Republican.  And a Blue Dog Democrat identify themselves as moderates and conservatives.

Pg. 23:  Eastern Airlines allegedly staved off bankruptcy in the 1990s with earnings from transporting coffins from Florida to various U.S. cities, and in 1998 Delta Airlines handled more than forty thousand coffins from Florida alone.  Retirees want to be buried at “home.”

Pg. 25:  Despite the constitutional requirement that reapportionment occur after each ten year census, Florida ignored this requirement from 1945 to 1964 to prevent south Florida Democrats from taking control of state politics from north Florida Democrats (Republicans were a rare breed at this time).  Governor Leroy Collins was the first governor to try and change this stonewalling.

Pg. 41:  On February 1, 1960 four African-American students at North Carolina A&T College in Greensboro sat down at a Woolworth’s lunch counter and refused to leave until served.  Racial developments in the South took a dramatic turn with this incident and those that followed.  Like so many places in the South, including Florida, lunch counters were reserved for whites only—Blacks could order carry-outs.

Pg. 50:  Adding to the political and social instability in Florida was the unexpected immigration of hundreds of thousands of Cubans fleeing Cuba in 1959 and 1960 and settling principally in Miami and surrounding Dade County. 

Pg. 61:  Despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s “one man—one vote” order in the Baker v. Carr decision in 1962, rural Democrats in north Florida made only minor apportionment changes, persistently ignoring the principle of “one man—one vote.”  So in 1967 in the case of Swann v. Adams the Court declared Florida’s apportionment unconstitutional and appointed a three-member panel of federal judges in Miami to oversee the immediate redrawing of Senate and House districts.  This shifted political power in Florida from the rural areas to the cities and suburbs where the Republican influence was growing.

Pg. 84:  Four important pieces of legislation supported by Governor Reuben Askew in 1972: (1) Environmental Land and Water Management Act; (2) Water Resources Act, which established water management districts in each region; (3) Land Conservation Act, which created the borrowing program for environmentally endangered lands and recreation lands; (4) State Comprehensive Planning Act.  Governor Askew stated that water was the crucial issue confronting the state and its future. 

Pg. 154:  Florida under Governor Chiles was the first state to sue the tobacco industry to recover Medicaid dollars that paid for health problems resulting from tobacco products and to protect children from the industry’s targeting practices.  The settlement totaled $11.3 billion.  Other states quickly filed their own lawsuits.

Pg. 155:  The conclusion of Chiles’s two terms in office marked the end of a remarkable period of Democratic leadership.  Askew, Graham, and Chiles governed Florida for twenty-four years, each holding office for two consecutive terms and providing the state with remarkably strong, honest, and progressive leadership.  All three regarded LeRoy Collins as their political mentor.

Pg. 164:  Governor Jeb Bush pushed through the nation’s first voucher program in 1999 and with it a dramatic expansion of the charter school movement.  However, in 2006 the Florida Supreme Court struck down the voucher system.  The justices ruled that it undermined the public schools and violated the Florida constitution’s requirement of a uniform system of free public education.  (Vouchers are still an issue in 2015 and are still used under revised rules from those outlawed in 2006).

Pg. 172:  Under Bush a constitutional amendment limited legislative terms to eight years (popularly known as “Eight is Enough”)

Pg. 199:  Jeb Bush and Clinton in 2000 signed The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) which provides a framework and guide to restore, protect and preserve the water resources of central and southern Florida, including the Everglades. It covers 16 counties over an 18,000-square area.  The Plan was approved in the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2000. It includes more than 60 elements, will take more than 30 years to construct, and was originally estimated to cost $7.8 billion.

The goal of CERP is to capture fresh water that now flows unused to the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico and redirect it to areas that need it most. The majority of the water will be devoted to environmental restoration, reviving a dying ecosystem. The remaining water will benefit cities and farmers by enhancing water supplies for the south Florida economy.). 

Pg. 219:  Seniors in Florida championed efforts to adopt constitutional amendment number 6 in 2006, which increased the homestead exemption from $25,000 to $50,000 for low-income seniors over sixty-five.  The amendment passed by a 3 ½ to 1 margin in 2006.