Free Republic

JACKSONVILLE -- Shawn Raysin sports a Confederate battle flag license plate on the front of his Chevrolet Blazer, he's positive Florida needs no more gun laws, and he's uncomfortable with the notion of letting gays adopt children. But he and his wife, Lorie, have two kids and worry the state is neglecting the public schools. They also believe Republican Gov. Jeb Bush cares too much for the rich. So unlike many of their neighbors in rural Clay County, a Republican stronghold just south of Jacksonville, the Raysins plan to vote for Democrat Bill McBride next week. "We've got to do...

The Tampa Tribune, the hometown paper of Democrat gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride, joined other major Florida newspapers including the Miami Herald and the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel in backing the re-election of Gov. Jeb Bush. In an editorial endorsing Bush, the Tribune wrote that though McBride "is a man of character," the newspaper worries "about his wide range of liberal preferences, particularly his apparent intent to undo public school reforms and give teacher unions control over many education policies. "Beyond that, it appears to us that his wish list of education improvements would require tax increases unlikely to be applauded...

Colour me confused. In Florida, both sides are pouring tons of money into a race between a popular incumbent and a well-financed but vacuous challenger. The challenger is only 8 points behind the incumbent. This is considered a competitive race, even though Jeb is a popular incumbent with most of the important endorsements and clear wins in the debates. In California, one side has been called "doomed" from the moment his campaign began. He's spent hardly any money, and his campaign has finally ramped up only a few weeks ago. This candidate is only ten points behind his extremely unpopular...

Kathleen Weinstein is a paraplegic in a wheelchair who worked as a poll worker in Tamarac -- until Miriam Oliphant was elected. Elections Supervisor Oliphant moved Weinstein out of Precinct 15J, where she had spent 15 years helping voters. It broke Weinstein's heart. Confined to a wheelchair since she was stricken with polio at age 5, she loved working at the polls. "They told me that Mrs. Oliphant's mother had requested to work in that precinct, so I couldn't any longer," says Weinstein, 62. Sure enough, Oliphant's mother, Hattie McKinzie, was assigned to the Mainlands 1 & 2 Clubhouse, earning...

Can any of you all help me out, here? I've been trying to find out what the ballot will look like this Nov 5th but haven't had much luck. So does anyone know where I can out what's on the ballot? I need to know ahead of time so I can investigate the choices and then inform my relatives as to what they should vote for.

Bush widens lead in final days Education initiatives have good chance BY TYLER BRIDGES tbridges@herald.com By convincing enough voters in recent days that Bill McBride is a tax-and-spend liberal, Gov. Jeb Bush has stopped McBride's momentum and slightly broadened his lead over his challenger nine days prior to the Nov. 5 election, a new poll shows. Bush leads McBride 51 percent to 43 percent in The Herald/St. Petersburg Times poll, up slightly from a 50 to 44 advantage four weeks ago. In each poll, 6 percent of respondents were undecided. The earlier poll showed McBride gaining on Bush, and his...

Oct 27, 2002 The Tampa Tribune Editorial Bush Has Kept His Promises, Deserves Another Four YearsFlorida voters have an admirable history of winnowing the gubernatorial field to two well-qualified candidates. (snipped) So are two candidates this year, though you might not think it to hear the heated campaign talk. Tampa Democrat Bill McBride, the political newcomer who is running a surprisingly strong race, led the powerful Holland and Knight law firm with vigor and imagination. He has long supported charitable and civic causes. (snipped) Bill McBride is a man of character, but we worry about his wide range of liberal...

There is a lot less Florida in Florida politics these days, especially when you start counting dollars. Three of the top five individual donors to Florida's political parties and statewide candidates this year hail from other states. The biggest individual spender: Wal-Mart heir John Walton, from Arkansas, who this summer donated $325,000 to the Republican Party of Florida. Two other out-of-state high rollers are Pittsburgh's Richard Fisher, vice chairman of Federated Investors, who gave $200,000 to the GOP, and Sonia Jones of Connecticut, an environmentalist, who handed $190,000 to Florida Democrats.[snip]Of the lower-ranking seven, five live in-state. They include Richard...

PENSACOLA -- Former President Bill Clinton is telephoning black church leaders and recording messages urging black voters to elect Bill McBride as governor. Clinton's role is the latest evidence of national interest in the Democrat's race with Republican Gov. Jeb Bush, who has campaigned across the state with White House officials. Clinton held a conference call Friday with about 25 black ministers affiliated with Episcopal churches. Clinton credited McBride with having a strong record on civil rights, clergy members said. Participants in Clinton's call said he said that a big voter turnout could rattle not just GOP plans to elect...

FLORIDA GOVERNOR CANDIDATES' POSITION ON HOME SCHOOLING This is a message from Brenda Dickinson of the Home Education Foundation, Florida's home school advocate in Tallahassee. Whatever state you live in, don't forget to vote on November 5! As we Floridians especially know, every vote counts!!!!! ~~ HEF has been in personal contact with both the Bush-Brogan and McBride campaigns regarding their candidate's position on homeschooling. Bill McBride's Issues Director told us that "Bill will concentrate on public schools so that parents don't feel that homeschooling is their only option." They have supplied no official statement or policy regarding home education....

<p>Neither Democrat Bill McBride in Florida nor Republican Bill Simon in California had ever run for office before. But both managed to overcome long odds to defeat party favorites, former attorney general Janet Reno and ex-mayor Richard Riordan of Los Angeles, in their primaries for governor. Both still have a chance to win Nov. 5, but their campaigns have shown how tough it is to start in politics at the top.</p>

-------------------- McBride's latest TV ads polish homespun image -------------------- Mark Silva October 24, 2002 In campaigns, like boxes of chocolate, you never know what you're going to get. But Gov. Jeb Bush never bargained for Democrat Bill McBride, a disarmingly simple opponent who walked into three broadcast debates without practicing for them. "This Forrest Gump routine he does is affable, but ineffective," Mike Murphy, Bush's Virginia-based media adviser, said of McBride. It's also intentional. But McBride's advisers think it works. "People like rumpled. People don't like packaged," said David Doak, McBride's Washington-based media adviser. "I can tell you that what...

Florida and National Media Call Debate for Jeb FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OCTOBER 23, 2002 McBride’s Performance, “Dramatically Abysmal” Prompting “Laughter from the Audience” “Bill McBride bumbled a big opportunity Tuesday night.” (Miami Herald) “Bush's poise holds off McBride's final charge” (St. Pete Times headline) “The onus was on McBride, as a challenger who polls show remains largely unknown to nearly one in three Florida voters, to pull off a dramatic performance. At times his performance was dramatic -- dramatically abysmal.” (Miami Herald) “For 18 months Bill McBride has been pining to debate Jeb Bush one-on-one. Over and over, the first-time...

Florida and National Media Call Debate for Jeb FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OCTOBER 23, 2002 McBride’s Performance, “Dramatically Abysmal” Prompting “Laughter from the Audience” “Bill McBride bumbled a big opportunity Tuesday night.” (Miami Herald) “Bush's poise holds off McBride's final charge” (St. Pete Times headline) “The onus was on McBride, as a challenger who polls show remains largely unknown to nearly one in three Florida voters, to pull off a dramatic performance. At times his performance was dramatic -- dramatically abysmal.” (Miami Herald) “For 18 months Bill McBride has been pining to debate Jeb Bush one-on-one. Over and over, the first-time...

My heart sank when I saw this one, but one word of caution: my guess is this poll is an outlier because 1) I've never heard of this polling unit, and 2)it has a very high margin of error at 6%. Maybe I'm engaging in wishful thinking but I just don't see any fundamental weakness on Jeb's part, only ultra high intensity among partisan Democrats. If this race is won, it will be on turnout, not anti-Bush sentiment.

TALLAHASSEE -- Less than two weeks from the election, the push is on in Volusia County to turn out the vote among African-Americans, with state Sen. Daryl Jones of Miami conducting a "souls-to-the-polls" campaign today in pockets of the county. Jones has turned from his own failed bid for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination to shoring up support among blacks for Bill McBride in the hotly contested governor's race. Toward that end, Jones plans to meet today with black leaders in Volusia County and canvass some black neighborhoods to remind voters that Republican Gov. Jeb Bush has been the driving force...

RLANDO, Fla., Oct. 22 — In their third debate, Gov. Jeb Bush and his Democratic challenger, Bill McBride, traded verbal punches about education tonight as each sought to turn the unexpectedly tight race in his favor.The debate, at the University of Central Florida here, was the final chance for the candidates to go head-to-head on the same stage before the Nov. 5 election. Mr. Bush took every opportunity to portray Mr. McBride, a lawyer from Tampa, as a big spender who would raise taxes to pay for his lofty proposals.The two differ most on public education, which has been the...

ORLANDO - Bill McBride bumbled a big opportunity Tuesday night.With the race for governor coming down to a handful of waffling voters, the most widely viewed televised debate of the campaign offered the Democratic nominee a prime-time stage to make a compelling pitch for ousting Republican Gov. Jeb Bush.But a flurry of questions from the debate's relentless moderator, NBC's Tim Russert, flummoxed McBride and laid bare an agenda lacking in specifics.Across the Meet the Press-style table, Bush appeared relaxed and in command. And, most important, the governor offered an artful argument for voters to reelect him on Nov. 5.He called...

ORLANDO -- As hard as moderator Tim Russert tried and as much as Gov. Jeb Bush goaded him, Democrat Bill McBride refused to tell a statewide television audience Tuesday night specifically how he would pay to reduce class sizes.Bush said he was "frustrated" by McBride's refusal to answer while McBride accused the governor of trying to scare voters by using "wild numbers" on how much it would cost to lower class size as proposed in an amendment on the ballot.There were no opening remarks in this hourlong debate, the final encounter between the two men before voters go to the...

So it happened 2 hours ago...many of us family types were eating dinner. Here's a live thread on the last debate of the season: JEB vs. McLiar!Join in--the fun starts any minute now!