ORLANDO, FL., Oct. 20, 2007
GOP Hopefuls Court Florida Faithful
Candidates Try To Win Over 4,000 Grassroots Activists In Key Primary State
-
-
Carol Bumiller, left, and Bobbie Bernstein, right, of the Bel Air Women's Republican Club, attend the "Presidency IV" conference in Orlando, Fla., October 20, 2007. (CBS)
-
Sara Kampen, left, and Devon Murphy, right, of West Palm Beach hold up signs supporting Rudy Giuliani at the "Presidency IV" conference in Orlando, Fla., October 20, 2007. (CBS)
-
-
Interactive Campaign 2008 Profiles of the candidates, polls, fund-raising, blogs, video and more.
-
News Tools Campaign Calendar The latest list of primary and caucus dates as states continue jockeying for position.
At a luncheon earlier in the day, Florida Republican Party chair Jim Greer stressed the importance of unifying behind the eventual Republican nominee.
“The only successful strategy that the Democrats can use to win the White House is to divide the Republican Party,” he said, adding: “We must ensure that we support our nominee with every ounce of energy that each one of us possess.”
Crist, the Florida governor, spoke at the luncheon of the importance of fighting climate change. His comments drew a subdued response from the crowd. Melissa Iglesias, treasurer of the Florida chapter of Republicans For Environmental Protection, conceded that convincing Republicans to support the issues close to her can be an uphill battle.
“It’s because of the perceived idea that you cannot balance sustainability and conservation with economic growth, and that’s untrue,” she said. “You can. But it’s hard to initially get their ear, because anytime they think of anything conservation, they think of crazy tree huggers, if you will, that would just want all of the Western democratic civilization to perish so that the little critters could roam the earth freely.”
The national chapter of the Republicans For Environmental Protection has endorsed McCain.
Crist, who has not endorsed a candidate, declined to comment on whether a Republican candidate could be successful campaigning on issues such as climate change. But he did say Florida Republicans are perhaps more concerned about environmental issues than Republicans nationally, and explained the issues he believes are most important to Sunshine State Republicans.
“The most important among them are a national catastrophic fund to help us with hurricanes and help other states with earthquakes and other natural disasters,” said Crist. “In addition to that, Florida is very concerned about making sure that we don’t have people in the White House who want to drill off our coasts for oil. And we want to make sure that we protect our Everglades.”
A recent poll by Quinnipiac University showed Giuliani in the lead in Florida, with 27 percent of the vote; he's followed by Thompson at 19 percent, Romney at 17 percent, and McCain at 8 percent. It likely doesn’t hurt Giuliani that Florida is a popular retirement destination for New Yorkers -- he joked in his speech that “sometimes I see more people from New York in Florida than I do in New York.”
Juan Carlos Bermudez, mayor of Doral, Fla., who endorsed Giuliani, said the key issues for Florida Republicans are fiscal conservatism, respect for individual liberty, and lower taxes -- “the core Republican principles.”
The importance of such core principles came up more than once at Presidency IV.
“I’m looking for a candidate who has always had traditional, consistent conservative positions,” said Chris Gangler. “Right now the candidates I see out there, none of them really grab my fancy yet. I’d like to see a return to traditional conservative government spending -- smaller government, smaller taxes, certainly like to see something done about the immigration.”
“I guess what we’re looking for is a candidate who has the political courage to do what’s right for the country,” he added, “instead of just coming to Florida and telling us what we want to hear.”
By Brian Montopoli
©MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
More From Politics
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
- 1
- 2
- next
See all 28 CommentsWhy Don''t You Know Ron Paul?
The corporate media will not give Ron Paul any Exposure. Because, NBC is owned by GE. GE is one of the world''s largest war-makers. They make things that go boom. They make $Billions on war. A Ron Paul administration would be bad for business. CNN is owned by AOL. Majority share holder is Saudi Royal Talal who is also partners with GHWBush in The Carlyle Group. Another major warmaker. And on and on. You get the picture. This is why they are doing a Media Blackout on him. Because they don''t WANT YOU TO KNOW THE TRUTH!
Who is Ron Paul?
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/about
** Ron Paul Won The GOP Debate Lastnight!
Who Owns The Media: http://www.mediaowners.com
RESTORE YOUR LIBERTY & FREEDOM
SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT RON PAUL 2008!
He Will:
** Stop Iraq War Immediately
** Eliminate IRS
** Eliminate Federal Reserve
** Eliminate Government Wasteful Spending
** Restore America''s Work Force & Values
** Restore America''s Freedom!
GET UP AND GET ACTIVE TODAY!!!
Paul Is America''s Last Hope!
Join The ReVoLuTiOn In Your City Stand Up America:
http://ronpaul.meetup.com/cities/
I have not heard of any solutions on anything, just blasting one another and defending their beliefs--who cares?
We NEED someone who has US, this country at the forefront of his campaign.
None of these guys are worth anyones votes.
Nobody with a political future wants to risk that future to face the anger generated by the actions of George Bush And Company.
Posted by glossypan at 10:08 AM : Oct 21, 2007
I would say more than trouble they should be very afraid. I mean just think of all the power they have given the next Democrat President.
Why is it that Jesus hates welfare for kids, but loves corporate welfare? I don''t get it. Do these hypocrites have any idea how dependent Halliburton and Bechtel are on the government teet? We''ll be paying for Halliburton''s no bid Iraq contract for generations to come, but I guess that''s okay so long as we don''t give any handouts to these good for nothing kids!
I give a source for stats when I post.
The figures from the FRC Values Voters Summit are from the CBN (Christian Broadcast Network) blog 10 20 2007.
The thumpers are already fired up about being taken for a ride by the Mitt campaign.
I do not know what "the room" is but here are the results from the FRC Values Voters Summit registered attendees:
Mike Huckabee 488 votes 51%
Mitt Romney 99 votes 10%
Fred Thompson 77 votes 8%
Tom Tancredo 65 votes 7%
Mitt Romney and Ron Paul used their bags of money and internet connections to skew the straw polls again.I do not care for any of the Republican candidates but it is clear that Huckabee is the FRC favorite.
------ Affter 7 years of lying to America & the World,, This GOP & Godzilla Bush topped it all off with SCHIP,, Every reason they used to deny it to America''s children was flatly a straight up LIE
That''s an incredibly divisive thing to say just to get elected. I like John McCain as an American, but there''s no reason for that kind of divisiveness. Woodstock, like it or not, is part of our cultural heritage. Placing it out of memory guarantee''s a future with its worst excesses in place. McCain must be no student of history (like GW). Or he''s shilling for votes. I think hopefully the latter.
BTW. The reason McCain was in jail is also worth remembering... and not fondly. Hope no liberal asks us to forget the Vietnam War.
FACT: 100,000 DEAD CIVILIANS that the Cheney/Bush Needless War Based on LIES has caused.
FACT: 3,800 DEAD TROOPS is how you "support the troops"
FACT: $500 BILLION Wasted on WAR
FACT: Cheney/Bush have killed 100 TIMES the number of innocent civillians that Osama has killed.
FACT: We were DELIBERATELY LIED into this War of Agression. Cheney/Bush lied about WMDs and Al Qaeda links to Saddam.
FACT: YOUR tax dollars fund the $1,200/day US Blackwater civilian-killing terrorist mercenaries.
Sometimes I get in impression that the GOP and evangelicals want a biased nation, more war, wealth at the expense of the poor, increased survellience of the population, and all the other attributes of conservative politics. That all you have to do is mouth the words "family values," and then everything is aligned with the above attributes in stark contrast to the Gospel and Christian ideals.
Evangelical ideals based on Pauline doctrine have a double-edged sword aspect to them, in that Paul himself killed many many Christians before he converted by having had a religious experience. That his prosecution of the Christians was later converted to prosecution of non-subservient women, people of alternative lifestyles, and even those men who simply were not circumsized. I suppose these aspects are the antithesis of family values in the evangelical mindset.
Maybe Conservative GOP folk need to have a religious experience themselves.
Proof that the Republican Party is in trouble. None of the sharp, articulate Republicans; Lindsey Graham, Olympia Snowe, John Cornyn to name a few, are running in 2008.
Nobody with a political future wants to risk that future to face the anger generated by the actions of George Bush And Company.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by macusweil at 10:50 PM : Oct 20, 2007
+ report abuse
Yep let''s end Social Security, Work Place Safety, Child Labor Laws, Civil Rights Laws, and while you''re at it TRASH the Constitution, especially the 14th Amendment.
- 1
- 2
- next
See all 28 Comments