José Javier Rodríguez lost his seat in the Florida Senate. Photo by Stian Roenning Florida state Sen. José Javier Rodríguez. Not to rub salt in the wound of the Democratic incumbent for the District 37 State Senate seat who lost by 34 votes to his Republican challenger with a "shadow" candidate in the race that shares his last name but…did he not do any opposition research on the shadow candidate? Alex Rodríguez was an unknown who filed to run at the last minute then did not campaign. He didn't show up at events, he didn't raise money, and he didn't respond to media questions about his positions on the issues. Did that not make José Javier Rodríguez and his team just a little bit curious? For not knowing both of his opponents, José Javier Rodríguez gets my vote for worst politician. Kudos to WPLG-TV (Channel 10) reporter Glenna Milberg. Her dogged efforts to get to the bottom of this story underscore the importance of local media. —