Florida, blue state

[Mattforclark]

Look, as much as I am not particularly fond of Joe Lieberman, he did help Gore in Florida. Maybe not as much as, say, Bob Graham would have, but he helped.

So here's what Kerry should do:

Offer Lieberman a cabinet position. Heck, since he thinks he is so strong on defence, maybe even secdef or vaterland security. Have him live in Florida again. Not only does this help with Florida, but it gets Lieberman out of the senate, and someone more liberal than him in his place.

And as much as I love Wes Clark, make Bob Graham the VP. Do all that, and Florida is not just in play, but maybe even leaning blue. Has Florida become more Republican since 2000? I don't think so. The only argument for that is Jeb's governorship, and if Governerships were a valid predictor of electoral votes, Conn, Cali, and Mass would be red states while Kansas and Oklahoma would be blue. Utah would be a swing state.

And I like this shadow cabinet idea. So while Lieberman and Graham can live in Florida, shadow labor secretary Gephardt can live in Ohio and West Virginia. Shadow EPA boss Gore can shore up Oregon, and shadow sec-state Clark can work Arkansas alongside Billy Clinton (who should also be going crazy everywhere else).

And Clark can be VP in 2008 ;)

[Kahuna]

1. Nope. It was the black voters who put Gore way over the

top in Florida.

[Mattforclark]

2. And

you think they are going to vote Bush/Cheney or Nader/Larouche over Kerry/Graham?

[libertad]

7. I didn't support Graham because he is a BIG supporter of the death

penalty and even thinks drug pushers should be executed. I think some black voters may take issue with that due to the fact that the death penalty seems to be applied more to blacks than to others in this country.

[Mattforclark]

9. Kerry is anti-DP

Weren't Gore and Lieberman both pro-DP?

Why would a ticket with someone who is ANTI-DP at the head of the ticket be LESS attractive to anyone who is anti-dp than one with two people pro-DP?

[libertad]

6. You are correct, black Floridians strongly supported Gore. nt

[Florida_Geek]

3. IMHO, Clark would serve Kerry better

A lot of military and ex-military in Florida

[dryan]

4. Florida Situation

I have lived in Florida for over 40 years. I live in Orlando. Frankly, the state is pretty evenly divided. The I-4 corridor is the key and I'm not just saying this because I live here. The AFL-CIO has had four people here since early January. Phone banks have been set up and calls are being made to swing voters in 5 counties. The Democratic Party in this area is very energized. The election of a Democratic mayor for Orlando last year (and his apparent re-election next Tuesday) -- Go Buddy Dyer -- have tilted the tide a little. This area which is very dependent on tourism (still) was very heavily hit after 9/11. Added to that, many of the high tech companies in this area accepted this "outsourcing" bull**** and many of the better paying jobs are now in New Delhi or Bombay. The Republicans are still trying to explain why they didn't break any election laws from 2000 and the minority voters are still mad about the stolen election. I'm a white woman but I still think it was stolen.

Either of our senators would make a great VP candidate. Bob Graham should have been on the Democratic ticket in 1988 or 2000,even though I think Lieberman is a great guy. He is a tireless campaigner although not a very scintillating speaker. Bill Nelson is also a tireless campaigner and a great speaker.

Jeb Bush and company know that they cannot pull another rabbit out of the hat like in 2000.

[JCMach1]

8. Florida will once again be the key to the kingdom I am afraid

I say this as a Florida native....

[Bombtrack]

5. Yeah, but I heard something about KERRY having military experience

but maybe that was just misinformation