The problem is, where does the individual voter begin to accomplish even a 50% replacement of members of Congress? We only get to vote for 1 Congressman and 1 Senator in 2010. If the electorate opts to vote "their" representatives back in and rely on everyone else in the country to vote out those that are partisan, ineffective, elderly and sick, and even untrustworthy and blatantly subservient to special interests, we'll have 96% "recidivism" in Congress yet again. It has to start with our personal votes in our own Congressional districts and for our own Senators.

As I said, even though I like many of the issues that Ginny Brown-Waite is campaigning on, six years in Congress is enough. She hasn't elevated herself into any sort of leadership position in the House and her representation of the 5th district has been tepid, at best. She's now qualified for a lifelong Congressional pension and healthcare. As far as I'm concerned, it's time for a change. With all respect to Ginny, I'll be voting for whomever her opponent is in 2010. (By the way, at this point at least, she's unopposed. That's a sad commentary on the democratic system, isn't it?)

We have less of a problem in filling Mel Martinez' seat in the Senate. He's resigned and whomever is appointed to replace him won't have been there long enough to qualify as an "incumbent" in my opinion. In the case of the 2010 Florida Senate race, we should be studying what the candidates stand for and vote for the one most qualified and who stands for most of what each of us believes in. Please note that I have specifically NOT said that we ought to vote for the candidate of one party or the other. The effect of who we elect in the Senate has on the majority or minority parties and how that might affect how the Senate works is a factor to be considered--but only one factor.