Democrat Patrick Murphy calls Allen West a coward

Punk "Patty", who has never been in the service, may have bitten off more than he can chew, methinks.

Dem follows Rep. Allen West to new district, averts tough primary

A decision by a Democratic House candidate to switch districts mid-race has given Democrats a viable candidate against Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) and averted a potentially bruising primary in one fell swoop.

Democrat Patrick Murphy announced Tuesday he will follow West to a neighboring district, backed by national Democratic figures who lauded his decision.

Murphy and former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel (D) had both been eyeing a coup against West, a polarizing conservative figure who tops Democrats' list of 2012 targets. Both had been raising big-dollar figures, but nothing close to the $1.75 million West raised just in the last three months of 2011.

Redistricting made West's competitive district even more difficult for a Republican to win, and he announced in January he would run instead in the neighboring district of Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.), who is switching to an open, Republican-leaning district.

The game of GOP musical chairs left West without a Democratic challenger in Rooney's former district, and also left Murphy and Frankel to battle it out without a common foe. Frankel made clear she planned to stick it out in the district that West was departing, while Murphy called West a "coward" for running from a fight and said he would continue to monitor the redistricting process, which is still in flux.

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