Fantasy Politics USA

Mitt Romney was talking about the economy and how important it will be to the next President at a stump speech in Florida. He mentioned his own business leadership while at the same time taking a shot at John McCain. “One of the candidates running out there said the economy is not his strong suit. Well, it’s my strong suit,” Romney said. McCain was in St. Petersburg at the same time, and he wasn’t as reserved mentioning Romney by name as the one that started all these negative attacks. “Govervor Romney has been campaigning that way. He spent millions of dollars on attack ads against Governor Huckabee in Iowa, he spent millions of dollars in attack ads against me in new Hampshire and South Carolina,” McCain said. “I mean that is just the way he campaigns, so we have to respond.” Romney has outspent McCain 3 to 1 in Florida so far in ads. Romney has spent about $5.3 million on 5,700 spots while McCain has spent about $1.9 million on roughly 2,300 spots. Even Rudy Giuliani, who has gambled most of his war chest and all of his time in Florida, has only spent about $3 million on about 4,000 spots. Next up, the rest of the country.
Alan Cosgrove

Mitt Romney was caught in Lutz Florida peeling the skin off his fried chicken while dining at KFC. Mike Huckabee jumped right on this and told a reporter in the Florida Panhandle, “I can tell you this, any Southerner knows if you don’t eat the skin don’t bother calling it fried chicken.” I’m not sure what Romney was calling his meal when he dined at KFC. Huckabee saw this as a good sign for him in southern states saying, “So that’s good. I’m glad that he did that, because that means I’m going to win Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma … all these great Southern states that understand the best part of fried chicken is the skin, if you’re going to eat it that way.” Of course since Huckabee has been on a strict diet he hasn’t had fried chicken in a long time, and he needs to study up on his geography since Oklahoma is not a southern state in most books.
Alan Cosgrove

Hillary Clinton is in Florida these days despite the pledge not to campaign there. She is there for a couple of fundraisers, which is allowed under the agreement. “Hundreds of thousands of people have already voted in Florida and I want them to know I will be there to be part of what they have tried to do to make sure their voices are heard,” Clinton said in Tennessee, before heading for Florida. When she arrived in Sarasota, Florida Clinton managed to get some palm trees in the picture and posed for the press. She was asked if she was happy to be in Florida, and Clinton answered, “How could you not be. It is absolutely glorious. It is a perfect day here in Florida.” Outside the fundraiser, which was held at the home of David and Myrna Band of Sarasota, Clinton waved a greeted onlookers. Someone asked if she thought she was breaking the rules, and Clinton answered, “I just wanted to say hello to a few people who were nice enough to wait for me.” Clinton posed for a couple of pictures as the crowd cheered, “Thank you, Hillary.” Clinton said she would be back in Florida on Tuesday after the polls closed and said, “I’m going to campaign very hard to win Florida in November. That’s why I want the Florida delegates to be seated at the convention. I’m going to ask my delegates to vote to do that.” Later Clinton traveled to Miami for a fundraiser at a bowling alley, Lucky Strike Lanes on Miami Beach. She was again greeted by crowds, but this crowd had a few anti-Hillary folks. One held up a sign that read, “Hillary said she wouldn’t campaign in Florida. I want a president that can keep a promise.” An apparent Barack Obama supporter that doesn’t feel slighted by the DNC’s decision to not allow campaigning in their state. The Obama campaign has responded to Clinton’s foray into Florida by saying, “If the Clinton campaign’s southern strength rests on the outcome in a state where they’re the only ones competing, that should give Democrats deep pause.” Which translates into; Obama doesn’t think the voters of Florida count, since the DNC isn’t counting them. That should at least give the voters in Florida a deep pause. Obama is riding high now with South Carolina, and the Kennedy endorsements but, Clinton should win Florida, which will give her a needed boost into Super Tuesday.
Alan Cosgrove

Hillary Clinton released a statement today on behalf of the delegates from Florida and Michigan. According to the statement;

I hear all the time from people in Florida and Michigan that they want their voices heard in selecting the Democratic nominee.

“I believe our nominee will need the enthusiastic support of Democrats in these states to win the general election, and so I will ask my Democratic convention delegates to support seating the delegations from Florida and Michigan. I know not all of my delegates will do so and I fully respect that decision. But I hope to be President of all 50 states and U.S. territories, and that we have all 50 states represented and counted at the Democratic convention.

“I hope my fellow potential nominees will join me in this.

“I will of course be following the no-campaigning pledge that I signed, and expect others will as well.”

Barack Obama and John Edwards had their names removed from the ballots in Michigan, and tried to get Clinton to do so as well. Clinton refused and won Michigan with 55% of the vote. So far the candidates have not appeared in Florida except for an Obama ad that keeps getting play on cable and satellite channels. The Clinton campaign has complained saying the ad is a violation of the no-campaign pact all the major candidates agreed to.
Alan Cosgrove

It looks like Florida is only holding a Republican primary next Tuesday, but there is one for the Democrats too. Since Florida jumped ahead of the Democratic National Committee’s official campaign calender, they where punished. The official early states, New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada, and South Carolina, all demanded that the candidates not campaign in Florida for stepping out of line. But after South Carolina’s primary Florida can no longer hurt them. So it makes sense for the DNC, and Howard Dean to drop this little charade, and let the Democrats come to Florida right after South Carolina. Besides, some of the candidates are already showing TV ads in Florida clandestinely . Why not let all of them spend some of their war chest in and on delegate rich Florida. Alex Sink, Florida’s elected Chief Financial Officer, sent a letter to Howard Dean and the Democratic chairpersons of the four official early states, asking them that the Democratic candidates be allowed to campaign in Florida now. “At this point, the effort to preclude Democratic presidential candidates from campaigning in Florida is serving no purpose except to give the Republican Party a head start in the general election,” Sink said at a press conference. “There is nothing left to be gained by permitting the Republican candidates to barnstorm through our state unchallenged – allowing them to monopolize the airwaves and dominate the news coverage,” she said. “The four chairs of the New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada, and South Carolina Democratic parties have the ability to release the candidates from their pledge. And Howard Dean, who, as chairman of the DNC, encouraged the boycott against Florida as well as the stripping of our delegates, can play a leadership role in ending this needless embargo and thereby help us win in Florida in the general election,” said Sink. “I am calling on Mr. Dean to provide that leadership so that the national party does not put our presidential nominee at a competitive disadvantage in Florida, a state with 27 electoral votes,” Sink added. After the South Carolina polls close on the 26th the candidates will have campaigned all they can in those four early states, and need to move on. The voters in Florida deserve a chance to see and hear from all the candidates, and not make this another meaningless primary like Michigan was. Right now as it stands Hillary Clinton could have a cheap win in Florida, because she leads in all the polls. Barack Obama is the only Democrat with even TV ads in Florida. The DNC is punishing the voters for what a Republican lead legislature did, and the Florida voters deserve better than that from the Democratic party. Florida is fourth in electoral votes, and has more electoral votes than the four official early states combined. At this point in the game, with absentee voting and early voting in Florida, they have already exceeded total voting in Iowa, Nevada, and New Hampshire. Florida is the most diverse state of any of these. With all this going for Florida, there is no reason to keep the candidates out of Florida any longer. Come on Howard Dean, open your eyes.
Alan Cosgrove

Despite all the rumors that say Mike Huckabee is to broke to campaign in Florida, he says, “we’re there every day.” Huckabee told reporters, “There are some news reports that are totally false — I don’t know who’s fueling them — that say that we are pulling out of Florida. And that’s total nonsense.” “And I think it’s just one of those things that we’re having to battle back, because we think Florida is in play,” Huckabee said. “But we also know there are a whole lot of states out there.” “Our scrappy little army’s doing pretty well out there on the battlefield,” he added. Huckabee’s campaign team has had to cut back a bit since his win in Iowa. They grounded a charter plane to carry the press around that follows the campaign. They claimed it was riding around mostly empty, and it didn’t make sense to keep paying for it. The press, losing their free ride, saw it as a sign the campaign was going broke. Huckabee says the cutbacks are just proving he is frugal. “The reason we cut some cost is because we’ve always operated in the black, we don’t borrow money, unlike some of the other candidates who can write a big fat personal check and pay for everything — I can’t,” Huckabee said. “So what we recognized was that our primary goal right now is to get nimble, to get quick, to get where we can get from place to place as quickly as possible.” “I think a lot of folks would like to see the next president treat the taxpayers’ money as frugally as we’re treating campaign money,” he added.
Alan Cosgrove

This is the statement released today from the Thompson campaign. “Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people.”

The State is South Carolina’s largest newspaper and they have endorsed Barack Obama as the next president. They narrowed the field down to Obama and Hillary Clinton. The paper says Clinton, “has intelligence and a deep understanding of many issues,” but they note that a Clinton White House “would trigger a new wave of all-out political warfare.” The paper says, “Obama’s campaign is an argument for a more unifying style of leadership. In a time of great partisanship, he is careful to talk about winning over independents and even Republicans.” “He’s not neglecting his core values; he defends his progressive vision with vigorous integrity. But for him, American unity – transcending party – is a core value in itself.” The paper calls Obama, “a groundbreaking nominee.” They discount South Carolina’s favorite son John Edwards because he, “has morphed away from the optimist who won South Carolina in 2004. The candidate who stayed mostly above the fray four years ago is angry now, and pushing hard to turn working-class angst into political opportunity. He also has tried to one-up the other top Democrats with the least prudent plan for withdrawing from Iraq.” This endorsement will help Obama who already is way ahead in most polls in South Carolina. Now if he could only get past Bill Clinton who will be campaigning in South Carolina this week while Hillary Clinton goes west to get ready for Super Tuesday.
Alan Cosgrove