Jim Davis taps Miami's Daryl Jones as running mate

[seafan]

Cross-posted from GD Politics:


Davis taps Miami's Daryl Jones as running mate


Daryl Jones


Jim Davis


BY MARC CAPUTO
September 14, 2006

...Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Davis has tapped former Miami state Sen. Daryl Jones to join the ticket and possibly become modern Florida's first African-American lieutenant governor.

''Daryl Jones has a record of leadership and commitment to public service that the people of Florida can trust,'' Davis said in a written statement. ``We share a vision for a Florida in which the voices of working men and women are heard in Tallahassee and the issues most important to Florida's families are at the top of the agenda.''

Jones, 51, is a U.S. Air Force Reserves colonel as well as a lawyer and real-estate investor. He will appear with Davis at 9:30 a.m. at the Broward County library in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Throughout his career, the ''first black'' descriptor has followed him, from winning statewide student council leader two years after his native Mississippi desegregated public schools in 1972, to almost becoming U.S. Air Force secretary in 1998, to his 2002 run for governor, when he garnered 12 percent of the vote despite having next to no cash while facing well-heeled, well-known Democrats Bill McBride and Janet Reno.

Jones siphoned black South Florida votes from the latter and many expected McBride to tap Jones as a running mate. Instead, McBride chose a white state senator, and black voters largely stayed home, helping Gov. Jeb Bush win re-election in a landslide.

By tapping Jones, Davis's ticket gains a military shine and a precious political foothold in South Florida, where African-American voters overwhelmingly favored the Tampa congressman's opponent in the primary last week.

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[Orangepeel]

1. Yea! Good pick.

:-)

[RockaFowler]

2. This is an excellent pick

I think this is the winning ticket we have needed for awhile now.

[TSIAS]

3. Good choice

Davis needs the African American vote, especially in South Florida, to come out in big numbers and support him in November.

I know that Davis is under fire for refusing to grant reparations in a case in 1990.