Notes For Monday, November 04, 2002

Maybe the Republicans Will Stay Home: "One of the more personal proxy fights between the two parties. President Bush has made numerous appearances on behalf of his younger brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, who appears to be fighting back a late surge by Democratic challenge Bill McBride. He was in the state again Saturday. And former President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore are stumping the state for McBride. Democrats would dearly love to oust Jeb Bush in retaliation for the 2000 presidential race in which his older brother captured Florida’s Electoral College votes to eke out a victory over Gore. The President’s campaign efforts for the governor appeared to be working: the MSNBC/Zogby poll released Saturday found Bush pulling ahead with a 15-point lead. But throw in Florida’s history of voting problems and it’s anyone’s guess when the result will be known." Zogby. 9:14 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

How Did We Miss This?! The NYT reported that last week in Vero Beach "no less a person than Barbara Bush offered a reminder the other day of both ways the Bush name cuts in this state.

'Before I leave, do vote,'she said, exhorting elderly voters to turn out. 'We're the most disgraceful state.' She paused, her face frozen, as she realized what she had said. 'Not state! Country! We do not vote.'

Jeb Bush put his hand in his head and slumped in his chair."
9:01 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

McBride's chances may be tethered to the class size amendment; which is not necesssarily a good thing. However, a very recent "poll by The New York Times Florida Newspapers showed 61 percent of voters support Amendment 9, a measure on Tuesday's general election ballot that would limit class sizes from kindergarten through high school. Less than a third - 29 percent - of voters oppose the initiative, while 10 percent were undecided. The statewide telephone survey of 715 likely voters was conducted from Oct. 26 to Oct. 31. The poll has a margin of error of 4 percentage points."
6:14 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

Fortunately this didn't get much play in Florida: Pacific Business News reports that "The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Friday that Hawaii and Wisconsin are the two states least prepared to deal with a bioterrorist attack, while Florida - where President Bush's brother, Jeb, is governor - was rated the most-prepared state." How nice, just days before the election, that John Ellis Bush's brother would proclaim Florida the state best prepared to fight terrorism. 6:00 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]