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In tough editorial, Miami Herald recommends Marco Rubio and long-shot Pam Keith for Senate

From the Miami Herald editorial board:

Democratic and Republican leaders have displayed a damn-the-voters attitude in this year’s Florida Senate primary races that discredits both parties. They’re doing their best to rig the outcome before a single vote is cast.

In the Democratic race, the leadership has placed its bet on U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, who narrowly beat firebrand GOP incumbent Allen West in 2012 in a district that leans slightly Republican. Both President Obama and Vice President Biden have campaigned with Mr. Murphy, with the president featured in a frequent Murphy TV commercial.

The party leadership sees Rep. Murphy as more palatable to voters than primary challenger Alan Grayson, a feisty, mince-no-words congressman from Orlando. But that should be up to the voters to decide. That’s why we have primaries instead of appointed nominees. Stacking the deck against Rep. Grayson corrupts the process.

On the Republican side, party leaders are scared to death of losing the seat held by Sen. Marco Rubio. They persuaded him to go back on this word after he’d said No to this race countless times. Three candidates dropped out of what had been a five-person race, including Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, a proven vote-getter in Miami-Dade County, and newcomer Todd Wilcox, a conservative military veteran who made a good impression before exiting.

When a party leaves its own members with fewer choices, or abandons neutrality to favor one candidate over another, voters lose. It’s an insult to anyone who wants fairness in the electoral system. And it’s one more reason so many voters despise partisan politics.

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