Fla. House Race About Partisanship _ and Lingerie

FILE- In this Oct. 15, 2014 file photo, U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland, left, responds during a debate with Democratic challenger Gwen Graham at Florida State University, Wednesday, in Tallahassee, Fla. Graham, who is the daughter of former Gov. and Sen. Bob Graham is seen as one of the few people nationally that could beat an incumbent Republican congressman. (AP Photo/News Herald, Heather Leiphart, File) Close AP

Republicans who flipped a Democratic seat in Congress during the 2010 tea party movement could now lose it in part because of a snarky comment about a lingerie party.

Yes, lingerie.

That’s because of the way U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland defended an all-male fundraiser that encouraged donors to “tell the Misses (sic) not to wait up” as the men joined in a time-honored tradition of talking policy and politics without women in the room. After Democrat Gwen Graham, the daughter of former Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, took issue with the way the invitation was worded, Southerland asked a Tampa Bay Times reporter: “Has Gwen Graham ever been to a lingerie shower? Ask her. And how many men were there?”

The race for Florida’s 2nd Congressional District is focused on the partisanship in Washington, and it’s one of the few places where Democrats have a chance of beating a Republican incumbent. Graham, a 51-year-old lawyer who has worked for Tallahassee public schools, says that Congress is broken and that Southerland is part of the problem. Southerland says Graham would just be another vote for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Regardless of who wins, Republicans are expected to maintain control of the House.

The race in a district where the candidates have attended a worm gruntin’ festival — an event that honors the art of attracting earthworms from the ground — and shaken opossums by the tail has at times been ugly. Graham has attacked Southerland for claiming in an ad that he supported the Violence Against Women Act when he actually voted against the final version that became law.

And Southerland has criticized Graham, saying she was hand-picked by Pelosi and is a former Washington lobbyist, a claim that isn’t true.

Southerland, 49, of Panama City, also says Graham is running on her father’s fame.

“She’s royalty in politics. She was groomed for this. This is the Graham way. Bob Graham is everywhere she goes,” Southerland said. “I can’t imagine the pressure to win and how disappointing and humiliating it will be when they lose. I imagine she’s walking the floor at night and not sleeping so well.”

Graham said Southerland’s claim is insulting.

“If I was my dad’s son, he wouldn’t be saying the same thing,” she said. “I would never, ever ask people to support me and vote for me unless I knew that I had the skill sets to serve them well. What I have learned from my father is be informed, don’t be partisan and work together with others to make the right decisions.”

It’s clear, though, that Southerland has had to defend himself on women’s issues. After the all-male fundraiser and lingerie comment, he held a women for Southerland rally in Panama City Beach. For nearly an hour, six women, including Republican U.S. Reps. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Martha Roby of Alabama, took turns addressing a crowd of about 150 people and defending Southerland.

Southerland ended the event by singing “Stand By Me” to the crowd.

“It’s not an issue with the women in our district. It’s an issue for Gwen,” Southerland said afterward. “They’ve got to have a diversion from the real issues that face the American people. I wouldn’t want to have the record of the D.C. Democrats to run on, either.”

Graham, though, is quick to point out both parties are to blame for the gridlock in Washington. And she says Southerland’s campaign tactics reflect the partisan divide.

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Get Ready to Rethink What You Expect a Lingerie Model to Look Like

In case you missed it, Lingerie Fashion Week just concluded in New York City. While the runways were chockablock with pretty, sexy underpinnings, I was thrilled to see the array of body types of the models: women of all shapes and sizes paraded the runway. And you know what? They looked beautiful in their remarkably regular-looking bods (so not the willowy, long, and lean physiques that typically stalk down the runway).

“From the beginning we envisioned it as a platform to embrace and celebrate a wide range of intimate apparel brands and, therefore, body types, from petite to full bust to full figure to maternity,” Lauren Rich, founder and organizer of the official event explained to me. “Lingerie is not one-size-fits-all, and neither are the women who wear it, whether on or off the runway.”

We just talked about the plus-size runway show staged during London Fashion Week, and you guys loved it. It felt refreshing and realistic to see women closer to the average national size up there strutting it and looking gorgeous. Please know that I’m not saying these women are all plus-size. Rather, they all just feel authentic and realistic to me. I’m hoping it’s the start of a nice trend that we’ll see happen more and more, without a big to-do because, hey, it’s just a normal thing.

“Every model I have ever worked with has a realistic body image, and I think it is so important, especially to the brand,” Andrée Ciccarelli, who designed the above, told me. “The industry is finally starting to change, but for the longest time, every model in every ad and photo had a body type that’s unattainable and unrealistic. From the beginning, I made a promise to myself to work with real women and to accentuate the figures they have, and I have kept to it. The feedback from customers has been phenomenal.”

The above models are wearing styles from the various lines shown over the two-day span, including Harlow Fox, Affinitas Parfait, Tia Lyn, and Andrée Ciccarelli.

Are you as thrilled as I am to see more varied shapes and sizes on the runway? Think it’s something we’ll start to see more of?

PS: Harlow Fox designer Leanna Williams gave us these super tips about how curvy girls can find the best-fitting lingerie.

Photos: Courtesy of brand

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