The Victory Opportunity Was Lost in Rural Florida.....

[deminflorida]

Two points from a resident here...i.e. me.

In 2000 I saw no visit to the Florida Panhandle by Gore...

also there were no Gore support websites, no grass-roots efforts by local democrats to support the Gore/Lieberman Ticket.

In 2004 there was an outstanding grass roots effort to support Kerry/Edwards.

www.panhandleforkerry.com for example.

There was a get out to vote effort, visits by Bob Graham, Wes Clark, and even Elizabeth Edwards.

But the Key issue was as I was standing at Pensacola Airport the night before the election the REAL DEAL ELECTION AIRPLANE pulled up and guess who got out....John Edwards.

I distinctly remember one of the Democratic Party Reps saying ya'll have worked so hard for this visit with John Edwards....

But where was John Kerry??? Had he only made the swing Bush did from Pensacola to Panama City and even Tallahasse...he would have gotten all the headlines in the local papers.

No instead two weeks before the election there was a damn Toby Keith concert at the Pensacola Civic Center, and after-wards there were all these young girls dancing at Seville Quarter with "Got Bush" T-shirts on. I asked one who provided them and she said I don't know I guess the Bush Campaign, they were handing them out at the concert.

Know where we got our Kerry-Edwards T-Shirts we paid for them out of our pockets...and they were printed with Panhandle For Kerry local donations. I heard from a friend who is in the Santa Rosa Democratic party that the only support they received was box of bumber stickers.

The Dixiecrats in the Panhandle would have maybe voted for you John if they could have only met you just once.

If Jeb/Karl really didn't steal this from us, we blew this BIG TIME using the without the south strategy.

Now the rest of us down here must suffer for four more years.

[Warpy]

1. Consider the marathon they were running

just to get to all 50 states. There was no way they could visit each region of each state before the election.

I'm sorry you feel left out, but the problems were the moron vote plus the massive fraud. The election was fixed, and there was little they could have done about it.

They might have managed to cut down the moron vote with a quick response to the Smear Boaters in the form of a libel suit against that book, but alas, they were saddled with DLC advisors who told them if they ignored the bullies, they'd just go away.

Other than that, they ran a clean campaign and managed to visit most of the states in this country that gave them a chance. That they didn't manage to get to panhandle Florida didn't cost them anything. Fraud did.

[okieinpain]

10. yeah, but fla was part of their strategy. I'm at a loss how these

mofo's could raise 300 mil and not have fla, and ohio down pat. he could have won both of these states if they were better organized.

[Winamericaback]

2. Also in FL

And racking my brain tyring to come up with a viable strategy on how to get more democratic voters in FL.

Do you really think a Kerry visit would have made a difference?
Just for the Print media to report on it?
The only people that really go to rallies are supporters anyway, I never understood the point of having 2 of them a day. Stop preaching to the Choir. Its a waste of time and money.

Try to get to the people that DON'T agree with you to try and sway their opinion.

If you have any ideas, I'm open to receiveing them.

[deminflorida]

3. Duh, the Pensacola Regional Fair was one week before the

election. How's about getting on the ground and start shaking hands with southerners.

I think that was how King Fish won elections wasn't it......

[Leilani]

4. As a long ago resident of Pensacola, I agree

with your post!

Dems need to compete everywhere.

Are the beaches still as pretty as they used to be?

[deminflorida]

5. Ivan was hard on them...the dunes are gone...people are looking

for hope..

They lost lots of jobs under Bush, and now they lost jobs because of the storm.

John Kerry on the ground here maybe could have provided a little hope for "A Stronger America" as the motto went.

We lost a great opportunity here as a party.

[Leilani]

6. I'm really sorry to hear that.

The media keeps saying Florida is doing well...great economy...etc.

I think too many places were written off, meanwhile lots of time & money went elsewhere.

Kerry lost Iowa...too much time spent there for so few votes, IMO.

[Doctor_J]

7. the fix was in in FL

any time spent there was time wasted, IMO. What with diebold, and the purges, and the FBI going to black voters homes, there was no hope for FL anyway.

Sorry, but it's the truth.

[deminflorida]

8. How could anyone trade Iowa for 27 electoral votes...

n/t

[Doctor_J]

9. what?

what do you mean? Florida was never in play. After they got away with stealing it in 2000, there was absolutely no way there was going to be a fair election down there this time. It has nothing to do with IA. If Kerry was going to win this year, it would have to be without the 27 EV from FL. I don't know how much more simply this can be stated :shrug:

[deminflorida]

11. Well I guess the win without those 27 electoral votes strategy

really worked out didn't it....

:eyes: