Florida Gov. Race Tightens

Are we in for more voting irregularities and recounts?

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In Florida, It's Still a Tight Race

By Jason Thompson
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 15, 2002; 11:32 AM

With three weeks to go before Election Day, early signs are pointing toward another nail-biter in Florida. Democrat Bill McBride continues to chip away at the tenuous lead held by Republican Gov. Jeb Bush, who is actively wooing the Hispanic voting bloc that could swing the nation's most watched gubernatorial election.

Republicans, of course, would suffer a great political blow if the the president's brother was ousted. Democrats want some kind of revenge for the 2000 recount and probably expected a little smoother campaign season than they have endured. But the selection of McBride over Janet Reno as the Democratic nominee – even though it took a week and another voting fiasco to finalize – was probably the party's best move after all.

Since the protracted primary, Bush's reelection has been less than secure. Poll numbers instantly tightened, and they seem to be tightening even more. The latest survey, conducted by pollster John Zogby for MSNBC and released over the weekend, show Bush holding a 3-point lead over McBride, a differential well within the poll's margin of error.

The close numbers come as the candidates squared off for their second debate today, a morning enounter that was for radio broadcast only. The format may have offered a slight advantage for McBride, who was overshadowed by Bush's experience in their first, televised debate. The third and final showdown will be held one week from today and televised from the University of Central Florida.

Bush got a slight boost from that first debate and would no doubt welcome another lift from today's face-off. According to the Zogby survey, slightly more respondents now think Bush does not deserve a second term than think he does, and it hints that McBride may be running stronger than expected among the state's highly coveted Hispanic voters.

Unlike in California, where the Republican Party base chose an ideologue over a more moderate candidate for the party's gubernatorial nomination, Florida Democrats rallied behind McBride when it became increasingly apparent that McBride, not Reno, posed the more formidable challenge to the governor.

A Bush campaign spokesman took the latest results in stride, saying the poll simply shows what everyone knows: The race is very close.

The importance of wooing the Hispanic vote has not been lost on either candidate, especially Bush and the GOP. The governor is fluent in Spanish and is wasting no opportunity to capitalize on his language skills and his comfort within the Hispanic community.

Bush received a mostly warm welcome when he campaigned at a cultural festival in the Democratic stronghold of Broward County over the weekend, performing a few salsa steps and appearing onstage with Latin musician Tito Puente Jr. Bush was also straightforward in assessing the importance of a voting bloc that could make up as much as 15 percent of the Florida electorate on Nov. 5.

"Hispanic votes in a close election will make a difference," he said.

Aside from being able to discuss politics and policy fluently in Spanish, Bush holds another advantage over McBride when it comes to winning Hispanic votes – money. The Republican Party already has spent more than $1 million in Spanish-language television ads for Bush, while the McBride campaign has yet to advertise in Spanish.

Hispanics are not the only minority voters who figure to play a pivotal role in the election, of course. A recent Mason-Dixon poll gave McBride 89 percent support among likely black voters, and his first campaign event with defeated foe Reno was a tour of black churchs in the Miami area nine days ago.

All of this may be leading to yet another cliff-hanger in Florida, the state that has become synonymous with voting disaster. But at least one county is calling in reinforcements before a third Election Day meltdown. The Miami-Dade Police Department has been tasked with putting all facets of the Nov. 5 election together, from managing logistics and transportation to staffing and training.