Grayson Confirms 2012 Candidacy
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Updated: 11:21 p.m.
Former Rep. Alan Grayson announced Monday evening that he will run again for the House.
The Florida Democrat confirmed his intention on MSNBC’s “The Ed Show,” after repeatedly indicating that another campaign could be in his future.
Grayson lost the Orlando-area 8th district seat by 18 points in 2010 to former state Sen. Daniel Webster. He ran a widely panned TV ad against Webster that accused the Republican of trying to take away women’s rights and called him “Taliban Dan.”
Grayson blamed Democrats’ losses in November on low voter turnout tied to the lack of “a fighting leadership” over the two previous years.
The former Congressman’s hyperbolic rhetoric helped raise his profile — and lots of money. He raised more than $6 million in the 2010 cycle but retained more than $1.3 million worth of debt to himself at the end of the first quarter in 2011.
Perhaps Grayson’s most famous piece of political theater was his announcement on the House floor that he had found the GOP plan for health care reform. He declared that it was: “Don’t get sick. And if you do get sick, die quickly.”
