Battle for Florida is already fierce; key to victory could be I-4 corridor

[JohnLocke]

Battle for Florida is already fierce
Key to victory in Bush-Kerry race could be I-4 corridor
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By Tom Curry -- MSNBC
Thursday, April 22, 2004
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Making his 21st visit to Florida since becoming president, George W. Bush on Friday is driving home the same point that his Democratic rival John Kerry made in three days of campaigning in the state this week: The state’s 27 electoral votes are alluring enough to have the rivals visit again and again, from April to November.
(...)
Florida’s votes, together with the electoral votes of other big states that Kerry is very likely or virtually certain to win — New York, California, Illinois, New Jersey and Maryland, combined with bloc of New England states where he should roll to victory — adds up to a foundation of 185 electoral votes, about 70 percent of the number needed to win the White House.
The most recent poll in Florida shows Bush ahead of Kerry by eight percentage points, but other surveys in the state in the past several weeks indicate a closer race, with Kerry ahead in some polls.
(...)
Crucial corridor
Independent analysts and Florida politicos agree that the battle for the state will largely be fought in the Interstate 4 corridor that stretches from Tampa on the west through Orlando to Daytona Beach on the Atlantic coast.
According to Kane, the I-4 corridor now outweighs the heavily Democratic trio of south Florida counties, Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade, in the total number of votes cast. Kane says voters in I-4 corridor are not case-hardened partisans; they are open to considering a candidate if exposed to a skillful ad campaign.
(...)
“The I-4 corridor is made up of, you name it: Hispanic swing voters, the soccer moms, professional women and the NASCAR dads,” Feeney said. “You’ve got a large independent population.”
He added, “They are up for grabs. Not only are they undecided potentially, but they are undecided about whether to actually vote. So there are two huge variables there and those variables don’t exist either in north Florida and the south. If it’s a totally negative campaign in central Florida, these are the kind of voters who may say, ‘I don’t like either one of them.’ There’s a big variable in terms of turnout.”
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Read the rest here.

[Misunderestimator]

1. I would have to concur with the author

... being one of those "I-4 Correadors"

On edit... to clarify, I'm nothing like the specific ones he mentioned. I am far from undecided. Just a geographic thing.

[DAGDA56]

2. So they quote Ric Keller and Tom Feeney...

...Keller is a major league conservative asshole, and Feeney isn't much better (although he isn't as rabidly right wing)...Orlando is sort of a microcosm of the country...everybody seems to be from somewhere else, and you can't really profile a typical Central Florida voter.

[Orangepeel]

5. point of order -- Feeney is MUCH worse!

Keller is a blowhard and a fool and always votes the party line, but Feeney is Tom Delay in training. There is NO ONE who is more of a conservative asshole or as rabidly right wing as Feeney.

Feeney was the speaker of the Florida House in 2000 and is the one who threatened to have the legislature award our electoral votes to bush even if the recount showed Gore won. When he as running for Lt. Governor in 1994 with jeb (when jeb lost to Chiles), he proposed creating a state database with the names of every woman who has had an abortion and Florida seceeding from the Union if the national debt reached some number (which we've long exceeded but Feeny's quiet on that now).

[dryan]

7. Article is basically correct

I-4 area is the key to winning Florida. Unfortunately, they quoted the two biggest **** in Congress--double unfortunately one of them is my **********.

[Orangepeel]

6. ...

oops! double post

[Rationality]

3. From voting records that I remember seeing

Tampa leans slightly republican, St. Pete and Orlando slightly Democratic. Lakeland and Plant city are lost causes. I'm not sure about Daytona though...

[Misunderestimator]

4. Oh, no, now I'm crying

You say my area is a lost cause. I looked at the voting records too, so I know how the last election looked. But perhaps we've had an influx of others like myself, and a general disappointment in Bush that may make some supporters stay home, and the ever-important swing vote... I think it might not be a lost cause.

[Rationality]

8. Hopefully... you from Lakeland?

It's more than the voting record I'm seeing. In Lakeland and the rest of Polk County (if you're from there), I can't find a single Democrat in any office, and the mere fact that arrogant dolts like Don Gifford can survive as long as he has suggests that the place is going to be tough to pull out of the red, even if there are more registered Dems there.

[madfloridian]

9. Don Gifford and I had very bad words one day on the phone.

He is such a bastard. He started talking over me, spouting GOP talking points.....I had to nearly yell to get him to hush. I told him not to ever try to talk over me. I said I knew their tactics, and I started spouting to him.

The man is a fool and an idiot.

Our local Democrats are always running scared of the Republicans.

The national and state party write up off as though we could never win. There has to be a starting place to run a candidate.

[bullimiami]

10. bush lost florida

last time. even with all of the dirty tricks.
you think he's picked up a lot of new support since then?

i wonder if the 50,000+ purged will get their vote back before then.