Early Voters Key To Victory In Florida

Mail-in, Absentee Voting Means Large Chunk Of Votes In Jan. 29 GOP Primary Are Already Cast

(AP)  Florida's presidential primaries could almost be decided by the time most polling places open next week.

That's because early voting started Jan. 14 and absentee ballots started hitting the mail last month. Half a million people or more may have voted before primary day actually gets here Jan. 29 - a candidate who reaches those early birds could build a formidable lead.

That has some Republican candidates trying different strategies to reach voters who aren't waiting to cast their ballots (the Democrats aren't campaigning here because it moved up its primary in violation of both parties' rules). There are Web sites, rallies and mailers pushing early voting.

"There's no playbook on this because it hasn't been done in Florida," said David Johnson, a GOP strategist and former executive director of the Republican Party of Florida. "The campaigns are trying to learn as they go along what that playbook might be."

More than a third of the votes cast in Florida in the 2004 general election were cast early or by mail, taking advantage of a 2000 rule change allowing absentee ballot requests without having to prove that voting in person would be a hardship. As of mid-January, more than 176,000 Democrats and more than 225,000 Republicans had requested absentee ballots.

The candidate probably working hardest to reach Florida's early voters has been former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. His strategy has been to almost ignore the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan and South Carolina to focus on Florida, which has a large population of New York transplants. He hopes a win here would boost his campaign in advance of "Super Tuesday" on Feb. 5, when 24 states vote.

"We came here today in particular to remind everyone that voting is now going on - absentee voting," Giuliani said after addressing supporters in Hialeah on Jan. 3, the day of the Iowa caucuses.

On the Democratic side, a group of Hillary Clinton's supporters are trying to fill the void caused by the party's boycott by reaching out to potential voters through FloridaforHillary.com.

"Absentee and early voting are votes in the bank. The more votes we can get in the bank before Election Day, the better off we are," said spokeswoman Ana Cruz. Supporters of Barack Obama have a similar site that pushes Florida's early voting: my.barackobama.com.

Surely not all those absentee ballots have come back. They were mailed around Christmas, when most people are distracted by family, not national politics. Some voters also may be holding onto them to see which candidates survived the early contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan and South Carolina.

"They're paying attention to what's happened in other states," Johnson said, "but what that impact is is anybody's guess because there's no clear momentum for any one candidate."

Clinton's win in New Hampshire might give her supporters in Florida an incentive to mail in their ballots. It "could confirm for early voters that 'This is the choice we would want,"' said Democratic strategist David Beattie.

The former first lady polled very well among women voters in New Hampshire, a good sign for her among Democratic early voters in Florida. Women who request absentee ballots are more likely to return those votes early than men who vote absentee, Beattie said.

The state's Democratic party launched a campaign this year to boost their early turnout. Their "createCHANGE'08" aims to sign up absentee voters not just for the primary, but for all elections through 2010.

In an e-mail to supporters earlier this month, the chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party touted absentee voting's convenience for both voters and candidates.

"Absentee ballots will save valuable time and money in the final weeks of the campaign and help busy people to remember to cast their ballots," Karen Thurman wrote.

[perception5]

Latest poll from Florida, Rasmussen poll, has Mitt Romney up big time with 25%, Lone Ranger McCain is at 20% and Lost Rudy is at 19%.

Mitt Romney the most qualified and current front runner for the GOP nomination.

.............GO MITT !! aka Mr. Economy and Mr. Fixer.

[inventagod]

Jeb Bu$h bank account deposits and Diebold keys to victory in Florida...

[bpatt6]

my vote is for romney.

[iceman_1960]

"Oliver Stone"s next project will be "Bush," focusing on the life and presidency of George W. Bush. Josh Brolin, currently in "No Country for Old Men," would play the title role." - CBSNews

Terrible casting.

Will Ferrell was born to play that role.

[paladin777-2009]

I like Guiliani mainly for his no-nonsense tax ideas, but honestly Guiliani doesn''t stand a chance. This is because he has done so poorly in every state that the votes he might have collected in Florida will now likely be split between Romney, McCain, Huckabee, and Thompson (both Huckabee and Thompson should have dropped out because they simply will further prevent Guiliani from gaining momentum).

The only candidates that have a true grassroots followings are Romney and Ron Paul. However, just like Huckabee draws uniquely on Evangelical Christians for his support, Romney''s supporters are mostly Mormon. Dr. Paul, on the other hand, has a broad-base support and can weather the inconclusive primaries with his large, continuous cash influx.

[ontheleft]

My prediction? McCain will win Florida due to the senior vote and then he''ll win on Feb. 5th with the momentum that Florida gives him. He''ll lose against Obama or Hillary for the same reason Dole lost in ''96. He''s too old and out of touch.

[glossypan]

flip..............flop
*** abortion ***
*** immigration ***
*** gun control ***
*** gay rights ***
*** stem cell research ***
*** Environmental protection ***

[tylenol6]

Guiliani will only win Florida because the Diebold machines are RIGGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gce65]

In other Florida political news...
Why no mention of Bob Wexler''s (D-FL) website gathering online petition signatures to start impeachment hearings against Cheney? Not worth a mention?

Look at: WEXLER WANTS HEARINGS DOT COM

[mcv57]

www.wexlerwantshearings.com

VOTE IMPEACHMENT OF CHENEY AND BUSH, RAH!
VOTE AGAINST THE RUNAWAY WHITE HOUSE REGIME!

[joyous88]

After the last time should the people of florida still be allowed to vote?

[briannorwood]

And Fred Thompson played the good little boy (just like he did during Watergate) and managed to peel off enough Evangelicals so the poor John McCain could claim a feeble victory over Mike Huckabee.

The fix was in. Did anyone notice the "focus group" discussion Fox Views had after the S.C. GOP debates? To a person, the "undecided" voters announced the Fred won the debate.

This was Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch working not-so behind the scenes trying to be kingmakers.

A win by Huckabee would have made it impossible for their favorite son Rudy to win in Florida.

[nolalou]

safecents, your posting on this forum has nothing to do with the topic! Go take your investment advice and shove it!

[demwatcher]

Bob Wexler''''s (D-FL) is a man without a hopeful career, so he''s trying to make a name for himself.

Petitions don''t have a thing with making impeachments happen, and anyone with a brain would know this.

Impeachments are brought about based on FACTS, and the Dumbocrats KNOW that there are NO FACTS supporting a call to impeach President Bush or Vice President Cheney, or they WOULD HAVE DONE IT BY NOW. They have had a YEAR to do it and they have done NOTHING.

Learn to accept the FACTS and live with it!

HA HA HA HA HA!!!

[inventagod]

You won''t fool me twice, Rudy...

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/012208T.shtml

[david1737]

The Key to victory is fixing yet another election.