Republicans blasted U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, for voting the Democratic line 98 percent of the time, including his support for the landmark health care and stimulus bills. A billboard depicted Klein as a marionette controlled by liberal Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Klein, who was defeated by Republican Allen West on Nov. 2, was one of 20 Democrats who bucked the party today and voted against a bill to extend the Bush tax cuts only for those making $250,000 a year or less.

The bill passed by a 234-to-188 margin. Click here to see the roll call.

Republicans favor a permanent extension of all the tax cuts. Klein during the campaign favored a one-year extension of all the tax cuts, and reiterated that position today.

“The middle class is the heart and soul of America, and I strongly support middle class tax cuts,” Klein said in a statement released by his office. “However, I couldn’t vote for today’s proposal because it just didn’t go far enough. I have said consistently over the last few months that I believe all tax cuts should be extended for one year while our economy recovers and we work out a stable, long-term tax structure that allows American families and business to reasonably plan ahead.”

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Local Democratic U.S. Reps. Ron Klein and Ted Deutch are among the 47 House Dems asking Speaker Nancy Pelosi not to allow taxes on investment income to increase at the end of the year. Unless Congress extends the Bush tax cuts, capital gains and dividend taxes will increase from the current 15 percent to 20 percent.

Pelosi and President Obama favor allowing the tax rates to increase for individuals earning $200,000 and couples making $250,000 a year.

Klein, facing a tough challenge from Republican Allen West, was also one of at least 38 House Dems who recently called for a short-term extension of the Bush income tax cuts for everyone, including wealthy filers.

With Democrats increasingly divided on the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 308-to-114 late today for a supplemental spending bill that includes $37 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

President Obama’s request got more support from Republicans (160 votes) than Democrats (148 votes). Local U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, and Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, voted yes. U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, joined 101 other Dems and 12 Republicans in voting no.

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, did not vote. Meek, who’s running for U.S. Senate, was campaigning in South Florida earlier in the day.

Click here to see the complete roll call.

HOLLYWOOD — U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, is endorsing state Sen. Dave Aronberg in the competitive Democratic primary for attorney general.

Deutch served in the Florida Senate with both Aronberg and his Democratic primary rival, state Sen. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach. Deutch cited Aronberg’s work on consumer issues and called him “a fighter for people who need it. Right now, the citizens of the state of Florida need someone who is going to fight for them.”

In a tight race between two South Florida Democrats with similar stands on issues and a similar lack of statewide name recognition, Aronberg called the Deutch endorsement “a big moment in the campaign.”

Deutch announced the endorsement at the Florida Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson dinner gathering.

The dinner itself is this evening, but the Westin Diplomat hotel has been a Democratic Who’s Who all day with a variety of meetings and receptions that will continue Sunday morning.

Local U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch, D-Keyboards, and Tom Rooney, R-Drums, joined Micky Dolenz of The Monkees on Capitol Hill Wednesday in a performance of the Neil Diamond-penned Monkees hit I’m A Believer. That’s U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., on guitar.

Dolenz was promoting the Performance Rights Act, which would force radio stations to pay royalties to musicians for playing their music.

Deutch proves himself a capable genre tourist, handling the mid-1960s pop sound here after also accompanying a Delray Beach band on the bluesy Bo Diddley standard Before You Accuse Me back in April.

Here’s a clip of Dolenz plugging the bill and introducing the band….

U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, who was sworn three weeks ago after winning a special election, succeeded today in getting an amendment approved to the Home Star Energy Retrofit Act that expands eligibility for Home Star rebates to homeowners hit by hurricanes and other natural disasters.

Here’s Deutch’s press release.

After losing two lopsided elections in a congressional district that’s 2-to-1 Democrat, Republican Ed Lynch opted not to run again this year — but says 2012 is a possibility.

He outlines a variety of reasons for passing on this year’s race in this letter to supporters.

Lynch, who got 27.2 percent in a 2008 run in congressional District 19 and 35.2 percent in an April 13 special election won by Democrat Ted Deutch, offered this observation about the electorate he failed to woo:

“Unfortunately, the electorate in district 19 is not fair and balanced. In fact a minority percentage of the electorate makes the decisions for the entire district. This district is run by the condo commandos of Century Village, Kings Point, Palm Aire and Wynmoore. These communities are bastions for the Democratic Party in Palm Beach and Broward Counties. Until those voters are truly educated and step out of that vote ‘D’ mentality can true competition be brought to the House Congressional Race.”

The campaign manager for Republican Ed Lynch, who got 35.2 percent in a special congressional election on April 13, tells supporters in an e-mail tonight that Lynch will run again for the heavily Democratic District 19 seat in the fall if he can raise “$10,000 or close” by 7 p.m. Thursday.

Such an outpouring would roughly cover the $10,440 qualifying fee by Friday’s noon deadline to get on the ballot.

Lynch raised about $131,000 for his loss to Democrat Ted Deutch, who raised about $1.5 million. Lynch has “a game plan” for the fall campaign that will require about $500,000, says the e-mail from campaign manager Jessica Dornblaser.

Before Lynch could get a rematch with Deutch, however, he’d have to survive a GOP primary rematch against Joe Budd, who lost by less than 1 percent to Lynch in a special February GOP primary and who qualified this week for the fall ballot.

Read the text of the Lynch campaign’s e-mail after the jump….

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Joe Budd, the Boca Raton financial planner who narrowly lost a Feb. 2 special GOP primary in congressional District 19, said Friday he’s running again for the heavily Democratic seat.

U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, won the seat in an April 13 special election with 62.1 percent against Republican Ed Lynch and no-party candidate Jim McCormick. Lynch was the GOP nominee after edging Budd by less than 1 percent in a three-candidate primary.

The period for congressional candidates to pay filing fees and submit necessary paperwork to qualify for the 2010 ballot is next week, from noon Monday to noon Friday.

Democrats outnumber Republicans more than 2-to-1 in the district and Barack Obama got 65 percent there in 2008. Budd will argue to Democratic voters that their “loyalty to the party has been taken advantage of.”

Read Budd’s complete candidate statement after the jump…..

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Democrat Ted Deutch, who is to be sworn into Congress today by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, says his home and family will remain in West Boca while he’s representing District 19 in Washington.

Former U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler’s decision to move his wife and kids to Maryland and to declare Florida residency at his in-laws’ house in West Delray caused a flap in 2008 — although Wexler still cruised to reelection that year with 66.2 percent.

Republican Ed Lynch, who got 35.2 percent in Tuesday’s special congressional election after polling 27.2 percent in a 2008 congressional race, says he’ll decide in the next few days whether to make a third try this fall for the heavily Democratic District 19 seat won by Democrat Ted Deutch.

Lynch said he’s received “hundreds of e-mails” urging him to run again and “I’ll mull that over.”

He’d better mull quickly. The deadline for federal candidates to qualify for the ballot is April 30.

No-party candidate Jim McCormick, who got 2.7 percent Tuesday, says he’s also weighing a fall run either for the congressional seat or Deutch’s old state Senate seat. If he runs, McCormick says he might go back to the GOP because “it’s clear to me that America’s just not as ready for independent candidates as it should be.”

With all 93 precincts reporting in Broward County, which makes up about 30 percent of congressional District 19, Democrat Ted Deutch got 53.8 percent to 42.8 percent for Republican Ed Lynch and 3.4 percent for no-party candidate Jim McCormick.

About one-third of Palm Beach County precincts have reported and Deutch has about 65 percent of the vote there.

The Associated Press has declared Deutch the winner and Deutch just gave a victory speech to hundreds of cheering supporters in Boca Raton.

Palm Beach County Democratic Chairman Mark Alan Siegel, who early on the night of the Feb. 2 Democratic primary forecast “upwards of 80 percent” for Ted Deutch (he got 85.2 percent), is predicting Deutch will get more than 60 percent of the vote in Palm Beach County in today’s special general election.

“The forecast is mid-60s….63, 64 something like that,” said Siegel, who based his forecast on Democratic turnout at key precincts in Palm Beach County. He predicted a slightly lower percentage for Deutch in Broward County, which is about 30 percent of congressional District 19.

Former U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler never got below 65.6 percent in a general election in the district. Wexler stepped down in January to head a Middle East think tank.

Ted Deutch got 69.5 percent of the early vote in Palm Beach County to 29.6 percent for Republican Ed Lynch in the special election to replace Robert Wexler.

Absentee and precinct numbers for Palm Beach County haven’t been posted. Palm Beach County is about 70 percent of congressional District 19.

Combined with partial results from Broward County, Deutch has about 63 percent of the vote to 35 percent for Lynch and the remainder for no-party candidate Jim McCormick.

Results are starting to trickle in, so keep visiting the PostOnPolitics blog and PalmBeachPost.com

Early and absentee ballots from Broward County show Democrat Ted Deutch with 56.2 percent of the vote and Republican Ed Lynch with 40.3 percent in the special congressional election to replace Robert Wexler. No-party candidate Jim McCormick has 3.

Precinct results are not yet in from Broward County, which makes up about 30 percent of congressional District 19.

No results have been posted yet from Palm Beach County.

Voters in congressional District 19 today will choose a replacement for U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, the Democrat who stepped down in January to head a Middle East think tank.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The district has more than twice as many Democrats as Republicans and voted 65 percent for Barack Obama in 2008. That makes Ted Deutch, a state Senator from Boca Raton, the heavy favorite. But Republican Ed Lynch hopes to ride voter dislike for the new Democratic health care law to an upset victory. And independent candidate Jim McCormick hopes enough voters are fed up with two-party politics to propel him into office.

The winner serves the last 8-1/2 months of Wexler’s term and will be up for reelection to a full two-year term in the fall.

For a recent summary of where the candidates stand on key issues, click here.

Republican Ed Lynch aired an ad ripping Obamacare over the final weekend before Tuesday’s special congressional election to replace Robert Wexler. Democrat Ted Deutch did his best impression of legendary Chess session man Lafayette Leake as he joined the band Riptide at Delray Affair on Saturday night and supplied keyboard accompaniment to a cover of Bo Diddley’s Before You Accuse Me.

The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, which advocates for gay rights and against discrimination based on “gender identity and gender expression,” told thousands of its members today that Tuesday’s special congressional election is for Democrats only.

The group sent out a blast e-mail endorsing Democrat Ted Deutch. The e-mail says “only registered Democrats may participate” in the special congressional election to replace Robert Wexler.

“That was a typo. We’re going to correct that,” said the group’s president, Rand Hoch.

Hoch said the Democrats-only language was left over from an endorsement e-mail the group sent out before the special Feb. 2 Democratic primary. Hoch said a corrected version of the e-mail will go out Monday and Tuesday.

The e-mail says it was paid for and approved by Deutch’s campaign. Hoch said after Deutch won the endorsement, his campaign paid the cost — which Hoch estimated at less than $100 — to send the mass e-mail.

Republican congressional hopeful Ed Lynch is facing a foreclosure lawsuit but says he’s attempting to work out a loan modification to stay in his house.

Lynch, who’s running in Tuesday’s special election to replace Robert Wexler, has missed mortgage payments since last June and owes $647,974 in principal, interest and other advances, according to a suit filed March 30.

“We’re just like anyone else. We’re not on a pedestal. We’re not holier-than-thou. We’re not different from anybody else except that we trusted the federal government,” said Lynch, who says his contracting business is owed at least $2.8 million for work on a veterans hospital in Miami.

“Money gets tight when our biggest customer doesn’t pay us,” Lynch said.

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Early and absentee voting statistics show there’s more interest in next Tuesday’s special congressional election to replace Robert Wexler than there was for the special Feb. 2 primaries in Palm Beach-Broward congressional District 19.

Monday’s opening of early voting drew 1,192 voters in Palm Beach County — a 136 percent increase over the first day of early voting before the Feb. 2 special primaries, when 504 people voted. A total of 2,825 people ended up casting early primary ballots in Palm Beach County between Jan. 25 and Jan. 31.

Broward County had 305 early voters Monday, compared to 650 early voters for the entire seven-day period before the primaries.

With a week to go, both counties have already received more absentee ballots than they did for the primaries.

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