Congress, News, Ohio
Leaders of Florida’s Republican party have their panties in a twist over recent polls showing Barack Obama leading John McCain in Florida, what was once a solidly red state but is seemingly getting purpler by the minute. The St. Petersburg Times is reporting that following the results of four polls released Tuesday, state GOP leaders hightailed it to Tallahassee:
With some grass roots organizers complaining about coordination problems with the campaign, Republican Party chairman Jim Greer gathered top officials at the state headquarters in Tallahassee on Tuesday afternoon. He swore the group to secrecy.
When asked about it by the St. Petersburg Times, Greer confirmed the meeting. He largely declined to discuss what was said, but sought to play down any strife.
Over the course of an hour, described by some as tense, Greer offered a forceful assessment of where McCain stands in Florida and what needs to be done to win in a battleground state that could decide the election.
“I have a responsibility to make sure things are done right, and we win these campaigns,” Greer said. “I’m sure everyone in the room understands that I take that responsibility very seriously.”
The situation for Florida Republicans does sound extremely dire:
Complaints range from not getting yard signs quickly enough to knowing who will speak at events and overall manpower coordination.
At least if Obama carries the state, McCain can always point to a dearth of yard signs as the reason for the loss. That, and his boneheaded moves on the economic crisis and his boneheaded pick for veep and his general maverickyness.
The problem is, this state is turning. With new voter registrations running two to one Democratic, a robust and active state and local Democratic Party and general disaffection with the ruling party, Florida is simply not so Republianish as it used to be.
Of course, then we have to actually allow voters to vote and then we have to actually count the votes correctly … so McCain still has a chance to steal the election in Florida, á la George Bush in 2000.
Buck..
Great blog! You’ve hit the nail on the head with your comment about Florida actually having to count the votes correctly…let’s hope that happens.
All the best…will be a regular reader from now on!
GM – ‘George Q. Public’
My post is pertaining to the comment about Florida and the voting / counting the votes.
I am an election judge in Minnesota. I have been for a number of years. When [we] fellow judges talk about the 2000 and 2004 elections, we scratch our heads. How does this happen? In Minnesota, we have a serious paper trail. It is called a ballot. You mark your choices, and put it in the ballot counter / scanner. Done. If the scanner part fails, the power goes out, there is a spot for the ballot to go in manually. It is the same ballot box as the ones that go through the scanner, but they go into a different chamber so they can be sent through the scanner after and be counted in the same manner. If you mis mark your ballot (called a spoiled ballot) you take your spoiled ballot to the judges handing out the ballots. They have a special envelope the spoiled ones go into. You get a new one. You can do this 20 times or until you get it right.
I understand that each state has its own election laws. Fine. But when it comes to a Federal Election, I am all about it being the same. When the way one state conducts its elections effects the entire outcome of the election, nationally speaking, something has got to change.
Statewide can be a different story. I worked the election that Paul Wellstone died. Talk about a potential nightmare. Nothing is better than a well thought out, carefully executed plan to deal with the unexpected. Does no one ask the questions “what if, then what?”