"SHOTGUN" DICK COMES TO SOUTH FLORIDA

Vice President Cheney made a brief fundraising appearance Monday on behalf of Congressman Clay Shaw (R - Fort Lauderdale) in Boca Raton, raising an approximate $300,000 for the South Florida representative's hotly contested reelection campaign against State Senator Ron Klein (D - Boca Raton).

With the take from yesterday's event, Shaw now had raised about $1.8 million compared to Klein's estimated $1.5 million.

The Hotline's editor-in-chief Chuck Todd in his most recent rankings of contested House races lists Shaw as the most vunerable incumbent in Congress, with his contest against Klein listed third. I don't know if it was a great idea to bring in "Shotgun" Dick, whose own approval rating is at a dismal 18 percent.

Todd puts it right on the mark:

Clay Shaw's political obituary has been written a number of times, but this is about as bad as it gets for him.

I'm sure that the veep didn't win over many potential voters arriving in the area, as Air Force Two's landing shut down Fort Lauderdale International Airport late Monday morning, as well as surrounding highways to accomodate the motorcade.

And one other ancedote from the 22nd District campaign file, thanks to the South Florida Sun Sentinel:

State Sen. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, who is challenging Shaw for re-election, sought some attention of his own Monday, holding an event to criticize the Medicare prescription drug program at a Boca Raton senior center. "Mr. Shaw, Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney have delivered us something that's a sham," Klein said.

Klein said the Medicare prescription drug program was so complicated that he struggled with his father to figure out what his father should sign up for, and the two couldn't figure it out.

Shaw scoffed at Klein's anecdote. "Frankly, I don't believe that. It's not that complicated and it's not that difficult," he said

Maybe Congressman Shaw should spend a couple of days at the call centre I work at, listening to elderly men and women and family members unsure of how the plan works and trying to discover if the provider I represent includes their medications on their formulary. Each Part D provider has it's own list of approved drugs, and what may be on one's formulary may not be on another's...especially confusing when someone takes multiple meds. Or maybe he should try to explain the "donut hole" where a patient will have to pay 100% of their own claims after they reach a certain level until they qualify for catastrophic coverage. If that doesn't make Shaw out of touch...