Democratic Party should help Murphy

If Patrick Murphy pulls off an Election Day stunner and knocks Marco Rubio out of the Senate, Democrats will have achieved a double whammy — unseating a prominent incumbent and eliminating a 2020 presidential candidate.

That this scenario remains a possibility is what makes the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s decision to pull funding from the race so puzzling.

Murphy, who will debate Rubio at Broward College tonight, is the underdog, no question. But recent polls show the race tightening, with Murphy down just two percentage points or even tied.

And except for the DSCC’s disappointing move, Murphy’s momentum seems to have picked up.

On Thursday, President Obama, in Miami to campaign for Hillary Clinton, spoke with equal fervor about the need for Florida to elect Murphy to the Senate. On Sunday, Murphy received a rare out-of-state endorsement from The New York Times, which criticized Rubio’s hard-line positions on gay rights, reproductive rights, gun control, immigration and repealing Obamacare, as well as his support of Donald Trump. And Monday, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow featured the Murphy-Rubio race and said Rubio is “beatable in Florida in a race which could determine Senate control.”

Plus, Murphy has received every major newspaper endorsement in Florida, including that of the Sun Sentinel, as well as his hometown paper, The Miami Herald. Only El Nuevo Herald has stood with Rubio.

But instead of spending the $10 million it committed to the race, the DSCC last week backed out after spending just $228,000. Its leaders believe Democrats have a better chance of retaking the Senate if the money is spent in two other states with fewer expensive media markets.

The move is short-sighted. If Rubio wins this race by a percentage point or two, and goes on to become a top presidential contender in 2020, DSCC leaders will have no one to blame but themselves.

The move also sends a message to Florida voters that national politicos believe Murphy cannot win.

Murphy’s campaign declined comment.

Rubio is a formidable incumbent who unlike Donald Trump, is polling well with Hispanic voters in Democrat-rich South Florida. As of the last filing deadline on Sept. 30, Rubio also had outraised Murphy — $20 million to $11 million. Rubio had $5.5 million cash on hand and Murphy had $2.8 million.

To regain control of the Senate, Democrats need to pick up five seats. If they pick up four seats, the Senate would be split, but assuming the Hillary Clinton/Tim Kaine ticket wins, Kaine would be the tiebreaker as Senate president.

Democratic candidates are heavily favored to unseat incumbents in Wisconsin and Illinois. The other six states in play are New Hampshire, Missouri, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Indiana and Florida. In Nevada, Democrat Catherine Cortez Mastro is a slight favorite to keep the seat currently held by retiring Senator Harry Reid. However, if that seat goes red, the equation changes for Democrats.

FiveThirtyEight.com, which uses analytics to forecast the presidential and Senate races, favors the Democrats in all those states, except North Carolina and Florida. It gives Democrats a 75 percent chance of retaking the Senate — and that’s with Rubio defeating Murphy.

The DSCC, according to Politico, is spending its Florida resources in Missouri and North Carolina. It’s a curious decision considering that Democrats currently have a 63 percent chance of winning Missouri, while Republicans have a 58 percent chance of winning North Carolina.

Why not spend at least some money in Florida where Rubio is currently 76 percent likely to win, but Murphy continues to climb?

Defeating North Carolina’s Richard Burr wouldn’t have nearly the same impact as removing Rubio from the national conversation.

DSCC spokeswoman Sadie Weiner told us the committee is “proud to be endorsing Patrick Murphy, who is running a terrific race against Marco Rubio.” She declined to say why the committee pulled out of the race — or whether they’d consider reentering down the home stretch.

It’s not just the DSCC that has backed out of Florida, either. The Senate Majority PAC this month pulled $6 million in ads here, after spending about $4 million. Yet Murphy continues to gain stream. We endorsed Murphy because we mostly approve of the policy positions he and other moderate Democrats espouse. Those include a commitment to repair, rather than kill, Obamacare; respect for the hard-won rights of women, the LGBT community and minorities; a higher minimum wage; tax policies that benefit the middle class, rather than the rich; a pragmatic approach to relations with Cuba; deep concern about climate change; protecting Medicare and Social Security from privatization; and ensuring that the Second Amendment is not corrupted into a right for terrorists to buy assault weapons.

On all of those issues, Murphy is strong and Rubio is weak. Plus, Rubio is sticking by Trump, even though he said Trump is a con man who cannot be trusted with the nuclear codes. By standing with Trump, Rubio forfeits his claim to be the stronger candidate on national security. And if Rubio cannot stand up to candidate Trump, what makes you think he would be able to stand up to a President Trump?

Senate Republicans spent eight years obstructing Obama, and we don’t want to see a repeat when Clinton — who is currently 86 percent likely to win the election — takes office.

We only wish the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee would spend more to help shift the sands in Florida.