SCOTT MAXWELL: Dems win in Florida, but hold applause.

Today we’re talking poop, politics, painkillers and public radio.

Let’s start with a look at the state’s biggest political news — Democrats stealing a Senate seat down in South Florida.

Now, Democrats win big races in Florida about as often as flying monkeys get cleared for landing at OIA. So this special election was a big deal — especially because Democrat Annette Taddeo not only stole a seat from the GOP, but did so despite being outspent.

But before anyone goes nuts with applause, I’ll submit this Democratic win isn’t as breathtaking as some pundits claim or some Democrats wish.

For starters, Taddeo won in a district that has more Democrats than Republicans. If it’s a big deal for Democrats to win a district where the deck is stacked in their favor, that tells you something about the sorry shape of the party.

Second, the win means Democrats go from a 25-15 minority in the Senate to a 24-16 minority … meaning we’re talking degrees of irrelevancy here.

And third, while you have to start somewhere, Florida Democrats don’t sound ready to start much of anything on the House side, where the Tampa Bay Times recently reported that the Democratic Party’s goal in 2018 “is not to gain House seats, but just hold onto those the party now has.”

Um, what? Florida Democrats hold only 41 of 120 House seats … and the party’s goal is to preserve that?

That’s like being down 40-21 in a football game and focusing on defense — a sure-fire recipe for losing.

We see evidence of that surrender strategy here in Orlando, where Democrat Party leaders didn’t even bother finding a candidate to qualify in the special election for House District 44 in west Orlando — a district where Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump.

If Democrats really wanted to regain power, they would take a page from Winston Churchill, vowing to fight every single place they could — on the beaches, on the landing grounds, in the fields and in the hills. (Or, in Florida’s case, in the swamplands and in front of the strip malls.)

Democrats are flipping a lot of seats in other states these days. But you can’t flip if you don’t even compete. Poop problems

Now I’d like to take a moment to talk about poop. After Hurricane Irma, Central Florida was plagued with a super-gross problem — raw sewage gushing into our streets, yards and lakes.

Pardon me while I take a moment to vomit … which, yes, I realize only adds to the problem.

This gag-inducing issue wasn’t in just a few places. The Sentinel reported instances of free-flowing excrement in Orange, Osceola,

Seminole and beyond.

Much of the problem was traced to sewage plants and lift stations that remained out of power — which raises an important question: Why the heck don’t we make restoring power to those places a top priority?

Seriously, even when my house was still powerless, I would absolutely support power crews bypassing my neighborhood to first do everything possible to prevent a stream of sludge from taking over Orlando’s Urban Trail. I think my priority list might go like this: 1) Health-care facilities; 2) Public safety complexes; 3) Anything and everything that will keep a river of poo and toilet paper away from me.

Americans may be divided on a lot of things. But I think we can all agree that, after we flush it, we’d really rather not see it again. Hugs, slugs and drugs

A hug for Gov. Rick Scott’s pledge this week to pump an additional $50 million into combating the state’s opioid crisis. This is what advocates called for long ago. Still, we need to see the fine print. In years past, the governor has patted himself on the back for boosting funding in some areas — while letting funding disappear in others. So, while this news is welcome, the final budget next spring matters more than press releases this fall. A slug to all the debris and clean-up

contractors who signed contracts to clean up cities and counties in Florida — only to bolt for higher-paying gigs in South Florida. Local government officials are right to be steamed. But they should do more than gripe. They should also consider breachof-contract suits against derelict companies. (And if their contracts weren’t written to allow such a thing, they need to rethink the way they’re writing them.) They also should make sure that the companies leaving us high, dry and debriscluttered don’t get contracts again in the future.

A hug to WMFE for expanding its public-radio reach in Lake, Volusia, Marion and Sumter counties, thanks to the purchase of 89.5 FM and creating a radio network. In an age of mindless, thin and even fake “news,” the world can use more solid journalism, the likes of which WMFE (90.7 FM in Orlando) consistently provides.