The Gov will campaing with John McCain as he zig zags across the state. Wednesday and Thursday stops include: Tampa and Miami
Sen. Mel Martinez on how the Latino vote may paint Florida Blue.



Caroline Kennedy will be in the Tampa Bay Area, Fort Myers and West Palm Beach.

Proof that the I-4 markets are powerful... The Republican Trust PAC introduced Jeremiah Wright to the area.



Biden was in New Port Richie Wednesday.

Wednesday- Obama was in Sunrise for his multimillion dollar infomercial and Orlando with Bill Clinton. He will continue to back down 75 to Sarasota Thursday morning.

They continue to flock

Matt Damon is wrapping up his appearance today at Florida's VoteFest '08, which encourages early voting. The often outspoken supporter of Obama posed with a cardboard cut of the the Democratic hopeful during the event. 

She just looks like a Republican!

Sarah was in Tampa with 5,000 supporters sporting “They’ll know we are Christians by our vote” t-shirts. The question remains why Palin’s scheduling staff booked the event during Sunday Worship hours.

The View’s lone conservative introduced Palin and again brought up this weeks zinger, the $150,000 wardrobe. Palin said, “I'm trying to ignore this because it's so ridiculous.” She compares them to the lighting and staging, which belong to the RNC that she is not taking with her. Palin goes on to say, “I'm back to wearing my own clothes from my favorite consignment shop in Anchorage, Alaska.” Shhh don’t tell Nancy Regan, she may fall and break the other hip.

Sandy Shores Await!

With less than 10 days until Election Day, the candidates and surrogates are flocking like snow birds to Florida. Even Joe the Plummer likes to visit the state’s sandy shores…

Welcome back Sarah! She hosted rallies in Kissimee, Tampa and St. Petersburg.

Obama, finally, made it to Miami! (10/21) We were all wondering when you would go down there and schlep for yourself! Sadly, the sound bite is “I’ve got nothing but love for Joe the plumber” maybe Aunt Ida would have appreciated a shout out.

Oddly Enough— Black students interrupted Obama during a rally, they were quickly escorted out.


This is not the first time African-American Floridian’s have gotten testy with the Democratic candidate. Here is the video from earlier this summer where he called my hometown “feisty.”


McCain- The Joe the Plumber Tour is in full swing. The GOP nominee had coffee with his wife, the Governor and four local businessmen to talk about taxes and other campaign issues. (10/23)

Later that day, radio ads of Governor aired in support of the McCain Ticket.

McCain is finally getting some help from the state’s party, RPOF. They mailed a “blistering report of Obama on “Soft Crime.”

Cindy and Rudy made surprise visits to the Victory office in Orlando (10/25)

Many who know more that I do on the matter claim that the 1-4 corridor – from Orlando down through the Bay Area—will be the deciding region for the state. However, with ten days to go in this election the buzz is about baseball not politics. The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox in an emotional Game 7 to be named ALCS Champions. Passed over VP pick, Gov. Charlie Crist, has even thrown out the 1st pitch. Now the Rays are playing the Phillies for the World Series.You want to talk about the American Dream or a story of rags to riches? The Rays have the lowest salary cap in the league, last year finished DEAD LAST, season ticket holders were bailing by the hundreds.... Now, those faithful yet fed up fans are let scrabbling for seats. Local and state politicians a like are cutting their hair into “Rayhawks” for charity functions and Obama’s ads are drowned out by “more cowbell.”

Today, the race is too close to call. Obama is gaining in many of the state polls yet early voting shows stronger GOP participation. This one is going to come down to the last out in the bottom of the ninth.

Voting trouble again?

Will there ever be a time when voting will go smoothly in Florida. A recent AP article said that the Orange County Election's office wrongfully told 1,400 voters that they had missed the registration date for the November Election. 

The error in the letters, sent to both Republicans and Democrats, was blamed on a "bug" in the system.

Linda Tanko, a senior deputy supervisor in the elections office, said, "No good deed goes unpunished. We were equal-opportunity offenders."

The Great Schlep

Comedian Sarah Siverman strikes again with her "Great Schlep" Campaign. She urges young Jewish voters to go down to Florida and visit their grandparents but there's a catch, vote for Obama.

Silverman says,"If you knew that visiting your grandparents could change the world, would you do it? Of course you would." What started as an oline effort has gain momentum as grandkids are criss-crossing the country armed with stratigic talking points. Silverman claims that a vote for Obama will equal another visit but if not "hope they stay healthy 'til next year."

The battle of the surrogates continues

The proxy campaign from The Buzz:

John McCain and Barack Obama have sent some friends to Florida.

McCain: Former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson visits the GOP "victory" office in West Palm Beach at 4 p.m. today. Saturday, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal will tailgate with fans at the Florida-LSU game in Gainesville.

Obama: Today, U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey drops by a senior center in Little Havana (his parents are Cuban immigrants) in Miami, holds a town hall meeting on the economy at Florida International University and then visits a phone bank. On Sunday, U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer of California begins a three-day swing by visiting a West Palm Beach phone bank. Saturday and Sunday, U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke of New York will travel to South Florida to promote Obama to members of the Caribbean community. To address his NRA critics, Obama is sending Ray Schoenke, president of the American Hunters and Shooters Association, to Orlando, Lakeland, Ocala, Micanopy and Palatka on Saturday to talk about support for gun rights.

Leave it to a Floridian...

"...the next Vice President of the United States, John McCain!" Yikes!!



Click here to read the interview with the St. Petersburg Times that followed

From the National Journal's Hotline

FL Dems 10/7 "touted voter registration figures showing 'another huge surge' in party ranks that gives Barack Obama an edge" in the state. With the registration period ending 10/6, Dems this year signed up 360K new voters through 9/30, "nearly twice as many" as the 190K that signed up as GOPers. Nearly half of new Dems "are under 35." Overall, through 9/30, the state's electorate is now 41.3% Dem, 36% GOP and 22.7% indie. "Final figures" through the end of the registration period "won't be available for a few weeks."

Obama FL co-chair/Rep. Robert Wexler (D-19): "These registration numbers are indicative of the level of excitement and energy behind Barack Obama. For Democrats, it bodes well."

Palm Beach Co. GOP Chair Sid Dinerstein: "It always makes it harder if the other side registers more voters. But we're going to keep fighting the good fight."

The VP's in the Bay Area: Welcome to the I-4 corridor

With Obama leading in South FL, and John McCain "well ahead" in North FL and SW Florida, "the decisive battleground could be the Tampa Bay area." In recent elections, "the results from the five-county region have been virtually identical to the statewide totals." Mason-Dixon pollster Brad Coker: "Tampa Bay has always been the most pivotal area."

Joe Biden heads to the Tampa Bay area today, where Obama prepared for the first pres. debate "two weeks ago." Biden will hold rallies in Tampa and Fort Myers. Sarah Palin was in Clearwater 10/6.

One indicator that Florida’s battleground state status continues to grow... the sheer number of political surrogates who have flooded the state over the last week.

Obama has not personally been stirring things up in the Sunshine State everyone from his wife to Jay Z has done it for him. For a more complete list click here.

Michelle Obama and Jill Biden hit the trail headlining a rally at FAMU.

Want to know how your Representative voted for the rescue plan? Click here for a listing of how each Representative voted on the 1st Bill and Here for the 2nd piece of legislation.

Some Florida election officials spent two days talking to the troops in Afghanistan about voting in the presidential race. MacDill Air Force Base locate in Tampa houses the following headquarters: United States Central Command (USCENTCOM), United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM),United States Special Operations Central Command (USSOCCENT).

The Palm Beach Post reported that “As of Friday, nearly 1.4 million Floridians had requested absentee ballots and 78,666 had returned their votes” the majority of those request came from Republicans.

Lieberman will be back in South Florida attempting to court the Jewish vote on Monday.

Sarah Palin will make her second trip to the state making appearences in Clearwater, Fort Myers, Jacksonville and Pensacola. Excitement is so high in Pensecola it is rumored that the location has been changed from a plane hanger to the civic center.

SNL’s Tina Fey as Sarah Palin was back this weekend. The voters of Florida were spotlighted on the national platform. Fey parodied Gov. Palin’s “love fest with Israel” by saying, “From a very young age my greatest lovers were Jews and Cuban Food.” Need a good laugh?



Bloggers have been commenting all over the place about these clips my favorite has to be “SNL is an equal opportunity destroyer. They mocked both candidates and the moderator with equally devastating effect…Welcome to the Century of the Idiot.”