The Flyover View: You Can Call Me Al (Again)
For the first time since hanging chads kept the nation transfixed for weeks, Al Gore campaigned today in FL. Now an Oscar and Nobel Prize winner, Gore may be a different man than he was back then, but -- as the local press reports -- many in the state that secured the 2000 election for President Bush are still very much living in the past.
From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel today:
Florida has revamped its ballot systems. Hanging chads and butterfly ballots are gone. Now, in using reminders of 2000, political experts say the Obama campaign is conducting a get-out-the-vote strategy that carries some risks.
"They're trying to play to their base with a reminder that inaction, failure to vote, could lead to another disappointment like 2000," said Kevin Wagner, a political scientist at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
Still, Wagner said, "there is a distinct possibility" that the effort could backfire. Bringing Gore here "could remind people that their vote didn't count and that the voting exercise didn't generate what they would perceive as a democratic outcome."
But reminding voters of '00 is exactly what Gore had in mind. From the Palm Beach Post's report on the rally:
"Right now we are in the final days of this historic campaign. Don't let anyone take your vote away from you or talk you into throwing it away. Go and vote early," Gore told a crowd of around 200 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.
Gore was introduced by Mayor Lois Frankel as the rightful winner of the 2000 election. "This election is personal to us," Frankel said. "We know it was the curse of the Butterfly Ballot that brought the chaos to the world. ... It started here and it must end here."
But is there more to Gore's Florida experience than just the butterfly ballot? One Florida environmentalist thinks so. From the Palm Beach Politics blog:
Gore, a lifelong environmentalist, blew it with the local environmental community - or at least enough members of it in an election with a paper-thin margin - by refusing to oppose the construction of a commercial airport between Biscayne and Everglades national parks.
It's a cautionary tale for any presidential candidate courting Florida's varied constituencies, and it appears in the the new book Everglades Betrayal: The Issue that Defeated Al Gore, by Monika Mayr, a National Park Service official who held a top position at Biscayne National Park.According to her account, a week before election day, a crucial meeting took place among environmentalists and officials of the Gore campaign.
"Listen to what we are telling you," said Don Chinquina, executive director of Tropical Audubon Society. "You will lose the election in South Florida if you do not take a stand on the air base issue.”Gore remained silent, and furious environmentalists vowed to desert him at the polls. Enough may have stayed home or voted for Ralph Nader (who had denounced the airport proposal) to swing the state, and the election, according to Mayr’s account.
It may be true that Gore has some apologizing to do to Florida environmentalists, but it's clear from the local coverage of today's rallies that after eight years of Bush, Florida Dems see Gore as the one who got away. From the Palm Beach Daily News:
A variety of reforms ensued after 2000, including provisional ballots and early voting. Democrats in particular have pushed early voting as a way to head off Election Day problems. "There is no one on this Earth, no one, who knows better than Al Gore of the importance of early voting," U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, told the crowd.
Dem voters remain cautious, even after some voting reforms have been instituted. A sampling from today's coverage:
From the Post: Among those listening to Gore was Maureen Hone of North Palm Beach, who lived in North Carolina during the 2000 election and Florida recount. Hone said she's nervous about the state this year. "Losing Florida could really hurt, and I'm worried about what the Republicans might pull," Hone said.
From the Sun-Sentinel: "I just hope it doesn't happen again," [Katie] Kelly said. "I hope whoever wins does so because they get the most votes, not the best court fight. People don't want to put up with all that (legal fighting) a second time."
(EVAN McMORRIS-SANTORO)
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