RUSH: How many of you remember Jim “Flimflam” Florio, ladies and gentlemen?  Does the name ring a bell?  Jim “Flimflam” Florio was a Democrat of New Jersey, and he appeared in New York City on WNYC (it’s their local public station) with Brian Lehrer.  And he was asked — Florio was asked — if he was the first victim of Rush Limbaugh.

LEHRER:  I’m curious if you think, as an embattled, almost from day one in office — uhhh, and then what turned out to be one-term governor — if you think you were one of the first victims of modern right-wing talk radio?  WABC had recently gone from their old music format to conservative talk with Rush Limbaugh who had just come on in ’88, one year before your election.  They just hammered you, and Mario Cuomo — who was governor of New York then — and David Dinkins day after day, and there was no big station with liberal talk. There was no MSNBC on television yet.  Was talk radio a factor in your political challenges?

RUSH:  Here’s what Flimflam Florio said…

FLORIO:  It was a factor, but there were other factors as well.  Before we had the Tea Party, we had something in New Jersey called Hands Across New Jersey, which was the same type of thing.  The NRA campaigned vigorously. They funneled money into this Hands Across New Jersey group.

RUSH:  I mean, we’re sitting in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut — 12 million people, 95% of ’em Democrats, — and they’re complaining about a guy on WABC Radio (laughing) in New York.