Tuesday, November 2, 2010

The Devil and Daniel Webster

National Review profile: The Devil and Daniel Webster

Meet the man poised to take down progressive giant Alan Grayson.

When Daniel Webster signed up to run for Congress against liberal instigator Alan Grayson, he never imagined he would be called “Taliban Dan.” Or that he’d be portrayed as a draft-dodging, woman-hating career politician. “I knew they would be rough. Maybe I didn’t know they’d be that rough,” Webster says.

Not that anyone should be too surprised. Grayson is, after all, the Florida congressman who described Dick Cheney as a vampire, who once suggested that gasoline would be cheaper if President Bush had let a Saudi prince “get to second base,” and who took to the House floor a year ago to pronounce that the GOP’s health-care plan was for sick Americans to “die quickly.”

The theatrics have made him reviled by Republicans, revered by at least some Democrats, and a potent fundraiser. But they may prove his undoing. Moderate voters have not reacted well to Grayson’s brutally negative and demonstrably false attack ads, and thousands of dollars in donations have flowed into Webster’s coffers. A poll released on September 29 showed Webster leading 43–36, and New York Times prognosticator Nate Silver gives Webster a 75 percent shot at winning.

UPDATE:
Democrat U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson has conceded victory to Republican former state lawmaker Dan Webster, ending his congressional tenure after a single term.

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