Florida

No, it's not a weekend recap, its about politics:-) Today is a huge day in the timeline of this election, and most watchers will be following the results closely. On sort of this note, Jessie has a good thing on being respectful of an office, and I basically agree with what she says (although it is very hard with Clinton the Male acting like he has been for the last two weeks.) I don't have a problem with criticism, or even sharp commentary, but there should be a basic level of respect that we should observe. Most of the time.

Anyway, the Florida election today is monumental for the Republicans. If McCain wins, I think he will sew up the nomination next Tuesday. If Romney wins, well, it is still very much up in the air. Huckabee and Giuliani essentially need a miracle today, and both appear to be finished. I have a feeling Romney may pull it out...I think that core Republicans hate McCain enough that they will jump to the more purely-conservative guy that is tolerable and can win today. But we shall see.

If things go as they look like they might, this will give us the answer on Guliani's strategy: it didn't work. I understand what he was doing, but I think his big mistake was skipping New Hampshire. His kind of tax-cutting fiscal conservatism probably would have played really well there, and he forfeited all of the attention that comes with running up there. He probably could have gotten away with skipping Iowa, Michigan, Wyoming, Nevada and South Carolina entirely if he had finished a strong second or better in New Hampshire. But as it went, he was just out of the pictures for entirely too long.

The Democratic race is really getting good...the gloves have totally come off! While the press seems to thing that Bill Clinton's attempts to focus the debate on race failed, I am not sure that we can make that judgement until after next week. He certainly did damage to his personal reputation and may have harmed his legacy (if he even has one), but he did succeed in making sure that every headline on Sunday morning was "Black voters came out in huge numbers for Obama." From a purely practical standpoint, that isn't necessarily a headline he wants.

Florida is the second major state (Michigan) where the Democratic primary doesn't count because of a snit with the National Committee, so there is no drama in today's vote. And true to her nature as a weasel, Clinton is lobbying really hard to have the delegates from Michigan and Florida count at the convention. Which makes sense...since she is the only one who broke the promise of all the candidates to not compete in either. Don't like how the game is going? Have your friends change the rules...

OK, that may be harsh. Or maybe not!

Anyway, I have a couple of Florida readers, but at least one is a registered Democrat and doesn't really get a vote that counts today. But I am interested to see if the others are gonna vote in the Republican primary, and what they think of the massive barrage of advertising that has gone on, and the rising animosity of the debate. Anyone fit that bill and care to chime in? Anyone have any other predictions for today?