My brother's White House Briefing reports today on a 'tidbit' that suggests pretty strongly that the Republicans see Flordia as critical to their re-election, and far from in the bag:
Jackie Calmes has this tidbit in the Wall Street Journal: “Florida's television stations are the big winners in Bush's first campaign advertising blitz, station figures show. The Bush-Cheney re-election committee bought more than $860,000 in that 2000 battleground state — more than double the next-biggest buys in Pennsylvania and Michigan.”
I do think Florida is up for grabs. In other words, I think it's safe to discount the results of this poll showing Bush waaay ahead in Flordia which so upset the Daily Kos team. Indeed, it seems likely that the Republicans' internal polls are not quite that rosy, or they wouldn't be spending the dollars.
I suppose that even if our upcoming primary isn't very meaningful, we will at least have the pleasure of being courted in the general election.
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Florida will be a battleground. While I like to think enough people–537–will have figured it out by now, one must not underestimate the Rove-Jeb machine down here. It will also be interesting to see if/how people split tickets between their presidential pick and senatorial pick. I could see voters justifying a Kerry vote with a vote for Martinez, or vice versa.