Florida Democrats Picked Endangered Panther as New Mascot [Video]

The Florida Democrats just announced this weekend that they were adopting as their new mascot the Florida panther, which has clawed its way back from the brink of extinction but remains on the Endangered Species List, as the party strategizes for the upcoming November elections amid a growing GOP voter registration advantage.

After spending years as America’s biggest swing state (perhaps most notoriously in the 2000 Bush v. Gore election), Florida has turned red, with the voter registration advantage Democrats once enjoyed flipping to the Republicans. Under the leadership of Florida Democratic Party (FDP) chair Nikki Fried — the last Democrat to win a statewide election in Florida — the party is embracing its status as a scrappy underdog and that messaging was interwoven throughout the past weekend’s “Leadership Blue” gathering at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, the landmark hotel where President Richard Nixon’s infamous Nov. 17, 1973 “I am not a crook” press conference took place.

Attending the …