The Zeal Against Jeb: For Florida Democrats, it's payback time.(Jeb Bush)

Watching President Bush's brother Jeb struggle to win re-election against a little-known trial lawyer, it's hard not to suspect that Democrats are trying extra-hard to exact revenge for Florida 2000-that the barrage of attacks against Jeb is payback for George W.'s victory.

Then again, maybe it's purely Jeb's fault that he's in a neck-and-neck race against Bill McBride (who came from behind to defeat Janet Reno by a hair in the Democratic primary). Maybe he's tied with his opponent in the polls for reasons other than a concerted effort to defeat him by embittered Democrats. The maybes continue to pile up: Maybe the governor is neglecting grassroots campaigning in favor of heavy media buys, in time-honored Bush fashion; maybe he's distracted, as any loving father would be, by the recent incarceration of his daughter for possession of narcotics; or maybe, as Republican state comptroller Bob Milligan says, Jeb "hasn't surrounded himself with the best people" in his campaign.

The governor certainly has made his share of mistakes this year. But suspicions that Democrats are thirsting for payback are rife. Public records from Leon County, Fla., suggest that just one week after Al Gore conceded the state's recount in December 2000, the teachers' union re-mortgaged its Tallahassee headquarters, freeing up $1.7 million to take down Jeb Bush-he would pay for the offense of George W.'s ascension to the presidency.

In December 2000, no one knew who would be the Democratic nominee to take on Jeb. It didn't matter. The Florida Education Association-like all the other left-leaning groups angry about Bush v. Gore-was committed to revenge for 2000 long before it knew what revenge's face would look like.

A year after it apparently increased the mortgage on its headquarters from $1 million to $2.7 million, the FEA identified that face, endorsing Bill McBride in January 2002 and pouring $1.5 million into television ads. When I asked FEA president Maureen Dinnen about the mortgage, she didn't deny it. "We were authorized to extend as many funds as needed because our people are so upset about the situation in Florida," she explained, citing a May 2001 delegate assembly that gave her "not exactly a blank check," but the authority to do whatever she could to beat Bush. Dinnen continued: "Whatever we did to secure those funds, I know it was legal and we have nothing to be ashamed of."

(After this story first circulated via National Review Online, Dinnen issued a statement saying, "We did not mortgage the building. I can categorically say there was no mortgage two years ago with the intent of squirreling away money.")

Whatever the source of the funds, the union is spending that $1.5 million. And the Democrats have been calling for Jeb Bush's head on a platter since December 2000. If they get it, they're going to deliver it to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with a message: "You're next, George W."