Florida Not a Given for Bush This Fall

[CShine]

The narrow advantage President Bush carried into the election year seems to have evaporated, at least for now, as Florida voters of all political stripes expressed dismay over the war in Iraq.

Plenty has changed in Florida since the days of dimpled chads and disputed ballots, much of it in Bush's favor. Brother Jeb easily won re-election as governor in 2002, and the Republican Party increased its ranks. The economy has shown signs of improvement, with more than a quarter-million new jobs. Now, the race is as close as it was four years ago, when a mere 537 votes tipped the state and the presidency to Bush.

Since then, the capital of close elections has grown by more than 1 million, mostly Democratic-leaning Hispanics and blacks as well as conservative whites drawn by Florida's warm temperatures and booming suburbs.

"This may be the most dynamic state in all the 50," said Jeb Bush, who hopes to deliver 17-million-strong Florida to his brother this November. "We have the largest number of people moving in, the third-highest number of people moving out. We have a pretty high birth rate. We have a lot of young people who are becoming first-time voters. And, we have a lot of people going on to see their Creator," Bush said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&ncid=703&e=2&u=/ap/20040608/ap_on_el_pr/florida_four_years_later

[JayS]

1. The only thing that is a given in the 2004 election process...

...is that nothing is a given. :)

[Lou_C]

2. But...but...but...but Jeb is going to win/steal it for him

:shrug:

[indepat]

3. Surely that's considered a given

[TLDHOME99]

4. I only wish that story was true!

But I think Jeb will pull all the same dirty tricks he did in 2000, and I'm sure he has thought of another few to pull.

We hate him.

[4_Legs_Good]

6. The key is that if Jeb's gonna pull dirty tricks...

we need to increase the margin such that the tricks don't quite make up the difference.

I still say send Clinton to Florida and have him stay there (and maybe Arkansas as well). He'll swing the state. Just leave him there, and let Kerry et.al. concentrate on everywhere else.

david

[TLDHOME99]

14. from your mouth to Clinton's ears!

[SideshowScott]

5. It was not a given last election eather!

Gore won Fla last election we all know that. So why are they trying to act like Bush won Fla in a landslide? HMPH!

[blackcat77]

7. Never forget one thing

The legislature chooses the electors and the legislature is under no obligation to follow the will of the voters. Back during the 2000 debacle, the speaker of the FL house said that they were going to choose Bush electors no matter how the recount turned out. And I sure wouldn't put it past them to "overrule the voters' mistake" if Kerry should happen to win.

[buycitgo]

8. absolutely correct

so why can't some state with dems in control do the exact same thing this year

it's in the constitution

what's to prevent EVERY state from doing this?

don't you think the pugs have thought about that?

you KNOW they'll do ANYthing this time

they already have twice

[Zhade]

9. Nice set-up, Jebbie.

The only point of this story, and stories like it, is to mold public perception that "Florida is too close to call" so that when they DO cheat (and they will, that's one of the givens in this situation), they'll be able to ward off any claims that polls showed a clear majority one way or the other.

Total media psyops.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

10. Which ones are "going on to see their Creator"?

Is this a threat?

[Proud2BAmurkin]

11. Why would it be a given? He lost Florida last time

nt

[AndyTiedye]

12. It is a Given that they will Steal Florida Again

It doesn't really matter how many people vote for Kerry in Florida.
They will throw away our votes until Bush "wins" again.
Just like last time, but now they have black box voting machinez
to help them steal more votes.

We need to get our electoral votes elsewhere.

Write off Florida until they start having free elections again.

Take all our business elsewhere.
When Disney World starts hurting, maybe things will change.

[robbedvoter]

13. Latinos are like birds" - Jeb actually said. "They migrate for the summer

they'll return in the winter" AAR played the stupid quote in the hourly news ;-)