Swing State

Floridians love Clinton and McCain, but can Obama’s earn their affections with rock-star rallies?

By Angie Hargot and Ben Torter

Although its suitors were gone as fast as they arrived, the nation’s most powerful swing state, Florida, became the object of three presidential candidate crushes last week.

Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the Democratic Party’s remaining contenders, and presumed Republican nominee Sen. John McCain all swept through Florida with distinct messages and varied short-term goals, leaving renewed optimism and lighter pocketbooks in their wake.

The campaign stops marked the first official visits by Clinton and Obama after the Florida Democratic Party, in a feat of political suicide, pushed up its statewide primary election, despite warnings from the Democratic National Committee. Although Clinton won the statewide race, the DNC has not, so far, counted either candidate’s delegates. (The Democratic Rules Committee will meet in Washington, D.C., on May 31 to figure out what to do about Florida and the other rogue state of Michigan.)

Clinton, who leads both Obama and McCain in fundraising statewide, used the rallies to promulgate her message that the 1.7 million ballots cast in the state’s Democratic primary should count (Clinton received 857,208 votes, Obama 569,041).

Sen. Barack Obama ignited the crowd in Sunrise last Friday. Photo by Angie Hargot

Meanwhile, with nationwide polls suggesting that Democratic frontrunner Obama is not favored by Hispanics, Jews or seniors, the Illinois senator rallied to capture those votes in anticipation of a face-off with McCain, who held intimate fundraising events throughout South Florida.

‘Stay with me’

Clinton passed through town last Wednesday to sell the idea that she is the stronger candidate to defeat war hero McCain, and also to rally supporters to march on Washington and pressure the Democratic Party to count the primary votes cast in Florida and Michigan.

Hillary rallies in Coral Gables. Photo by Silvia Ros

A couple of thousand people, mostly women, shuffled into the University of Miami’s BankUnited Center in Coral Gables to a soundtrack apparently inspired by Hillary’s bread-and-butter supporters in her primary race against Obama.

Songs such as Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5,” “Our Country” and John Mellencamp’s “Small Town” tried to set a Budweiser and apple pie mood on the campus, but the vibe remained subdued until UM President Donna Shalala announced that Clinton was about to speak. “This is a university of champions … and tonight we welcome another champion,” Shalala said to cheers.

Millie Herrera, president of the Democratic Hispanic Caucus of Florida, and U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown urged supporters to join a bus ride to Washington, D.C., to pressure the Democratic Party on Saturday to count the state’s primary votes. (For more on the initiative, visit www.floridademandsrepresentation.org.)

In a Miami-esque teal suit, Clinton stepped out at a little after 8 p.m., flanked by Miami Mayor Manny Diaz.

“We’re here tonight to deliver a message,” Diaz shouted. “It’s not over.” On command, the crowd began to chant: “It’s not over! It’s not over!”

Clinton thanked Diaz, calling him “your mayor, my friend, a great mayor.”

Clinton pointed at a banner hung in the bleachers, referencing the 2000 presidential election, and read it aloud: “Not counting votes is a Republican thing,” she said.

Her speech addressed the troubled economy, rising gas and grocery prices, two ongoing wars and health care. She offered such solutions as taking tax breaks from companies that ship jobs out of the country and ending tax subsidies for oil companies; creating middle-class tax cuts, empowerment zones and other tax credits; promoting clean, renewable energy; and stopping Bush’s war on science. She spoke of ending No Child Left Behind, creating national community service programs and offering college financial aid directly from the government. She touted herself as the only candidate for universal health care (Obama’s plan doesn’t mandate that people join).

“It took a Clinton to clean up after the first Bush,” Clinton said. “It’s going to take a Clinton to clean up after the second Bush.”

She implored the crowd to “stay with me,” saying she was the only candidate who could beat McCain. “We have to win this election in November. John McCain offers more of the same.”

Clinton’s supporters applauded her strength.

“It’s important for Hillary Clinton to stay in the Democratic race due to the closeness of the votes between Barack Obama and her,” Miami Beach resident Andrew Briskin said. “The Democratic Party owes that to the people who support it.”

‘Really doing something’

It was clear on Obama’s first Florida tour that his campaign is perceived as something revolutionary, “change we can believe in.”

His mission: to win over Jewish voters, many of whom don’t support his views on foreign policy toward Iran, and Cuban-American voters who worry about his ability to achieve a meaningful change with Cuba that the last nine presidents have failed to deliver.

Obama’s rally at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise on Friday had the energy of a rock concert and the promise of a ’60s-style love-in.

“He’s amazing,” said Ashley Werner. “I hardcore love him.” Werner had written the words “I Rock with Barack” next to a large heart on her right hand. “He’s sexy and he’s from Chicago,” said the young supporter, adding that she has a thing for guys from the Windy City.

More than 16,000 people filled the arena to near-capacity and danced to the sounds of Miami’s own jazz-funk fusion band The Spam All-Stars. More than once, people threw their hands in the air and chanted, “Obama! Obama! Go, go, Obama!” in unison with the band. People in the stands started several waves as if at a Super Bowl game.

At times, the roar of the audience drowned out the voices of Congressman Robert Wexler and Broward County Commissioner Stacy Ritter as they introduced the Illinois senator and political star.

“When Sen. Obama won the majority of elected delegates, guess what his first stop was — the state of Florida,” Wexler screamed.

Ritter called him “the man who could lead this nation back from the eight-year disaster of George Bush.”

The cheers were deafening as a smiling Obama finally strutted out on stage.

“I promise you we’re going to make up for some lost time,” Obama said, referring to the inability to campaign in Florida.

He spoke of unity and a positive campaign. He chose to run, he said, because “I was convinced that the people are tired of a politics that’s all about tearing people down.”

He stressed that his campaign is not about race or religion. “I want to get the votes of Americans,” Obama said.

Referring to Clinton, he said, “Whatever differences we have, they pale against the differences we have with John McCain,” adding that a vote for his presumed opponent was a vote for a third Bush term, but noting that Bush did not create all of our problems.

“Many of the problems we’re talking about, we’ve been dealing with for decades,” Obama said, singling out health care and high gas prices.

He vowed to stand up to the powerful gas, health care, pharmaceutical and banking lobbies.

“I’m not taking money from lobbyists, I’m not taking money from [political action committees],” Obama said, although he is accepting money from the clients of lobbyists. “I said, ‘If I’ve got all the American people behind me, we’ll be just fine.’”

Obama railed on both McCain and Clinton for backing a gas tax holiday during the busy summer driving months because it would actually encourage more fuel consumption, without saving people much money.

“It’s a way to pretend you’re doing something without really doing something,” Obama said. Instead, he touted a plan for a middle-class tax cut that would put an extra $1,000 in families’ pockets. And he wants to promote alternative energy.

“I want us to take on energy the same way John Kennedy took on going to the moon,” Obama said. “We’re going to create millions of new jobs in clean energy.”

He proposed tax breaks for companies investing in American jobs, eliminating income tax for senior citizens earning $50,000 or less, and creating 2 million jobs rebuilding the country’s infrastructure, such as roads, bridges and broadband lines. He’d pay for it by having troops out of Iraq in 2009.

“If we can spend $10 billion a month in Iraq, we can spend $10 billion per month right here in the United States of America,” Obama said.

He’d pay teachers more and give students college money for public service such as working for the Peace Corps.

He continued his controversial stance that we must end the type of mentality that he said got us into the Iraq War and damaged our influence and image throughout the world.

“I will not only talk to our friends, but our enemies,” Obama said, recounting a stance that’s drawn heat from Jewish-Americans, then adding, “We will be a stalwart ally of Israel forever.”

Not everyone believes him.

Just the day before, on Thursday, as the sun began to set, activist Bob Kunst stood with two others in front of the Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa, located at 3555 S. Ocean Drive in Hollywood, as he’s done before, holding a sign in protest. Obama held a major fundraising event there a few hours later.

Kunst is the president of hillarynow.com, a Web site he started more than a year ago to advocate electing Clinton president. The Miami Beach native has been active in politics for years, crusading for causes from electing Hillary to ending road rage to rallying against discrimination of individuals based on sexual orientation. He also finished last in a tight race for Miami Beach mayor in 1997.

Still wet from a heavy downpour, Kunst arrived at the protest from Obama’s town hall meeting at the B’nai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton.

“The Democrats are suicidal to vote for Obama,” said Kunst, who was protesting Obama’s willingness to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. “How do you negotiate with people who are determined to kill you?”

Kunst also is outraged over what he calls “fascist intimidation tactics” that he claims Obama’s campaign has used to guilt people into voting for him. “‘If you don’t support us you’re a racist’ — this is the man running for the White House. Lots of people are on our side and I’d never know it if I didn’t stand out here,” Kunst said as cars honked and drivers jeered.

As with many South Floridians, the politics and safety of Israel weighed heavily on the minds of the demonstrators.

“We’re the most pivotal state in the whole union,” protestor Doug Miller said as a passing driver flipped him off, adding that he distrusts a candidate who “is in bed with [Jeremiah] Wright, [Louis] Farrakhan and Jimmy Carter.”

‘Hope to the Cuban people’

John McCain. File photo by John Hood John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee, continued a long line of big-ticket Florida fundraisers with private events that earned him more than $6.1 million in Sunshine State donations by the end of April. While many postulate that a McCain-Crist ticket would cinch Florida for the Republicans, McCain entertained Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who took second place for the nomination, at McCain’s Sedona, Ariz., ranch for a Memorial Day weekend barbecue. The Obama camp also has reportedly started the vice presidential search by putting together a vetting team headed by former Fannie Mae chief executive James A. Johnson, according to a widely publicized leak by top Democratic sources. While McCain and Obama apparently agree on the need to preemptively seek their running mates, they clashed in Miami last week over Cuban politics. In a speech in Miami on May 20 — Cuba’s Independence Day — McCain declared his solidarity with the region’s Cuban exile community, criticizing Obama’s desire for a presidential meeting with Raul Castro and challenging what he calls Obama’s flip-flopping on the embargo of the island (as a Senate candidate in 2003, Obama said he favored lifting the embargo, but now says he supports easing it). Instead, McCain criticized any message that would send a signal to Cuba’s dictators that “there is no need to undertake fundamental reforms…. I believe we should give hope to the Cuban people, not to the Castro regime,” said McCain, who has recently made similar comments about Obama’s desire to pursue diplomatic relations with Iran. The speech, McCain’s 54th campaign event in Florida, was held at the Sheraton Mart Hotel, and reportedly resonated among the largely Cuban-American audience. But Democrats have fired back, alleging that McCain himself has flip-flopped on the issue of relations with Cuba. Then, on Friday, while speaking to Miami’s Cuban-American National Foundation, Obama accused McCain of making “empty promises” regarding Cuba, and promised to allow Cuban-Americans unlimited travel to visit their families on the island and the right to provide financial support to those family members. His speech even earned him a nod from Cuban-American National Foundation leader Jorge Mas Santos. The money trail While Clinton was nonchalant last week about her campaign’s cash crunch, she didn’t forget to direct followers to hillaryclinton.com, where the home page pleads for donations. “You can even make a contribution if you are so inclined,” she said. Clinton raised roughly $26 million nationwide during the month of April. Having spent a total of $185 million, her campaign is now left with a little less than $30 million in cash and almost $20 million in debts. In the same month, Obama raised nearly $31 million nationwide. In all, he’s raised a total of $265 million and spent $219 million, leaving him with $47 million in cash and about $2 million in debts as he, presumably, heads into the general election. However, the funds these candidates raised in Florida tell another story. Clinton has raised $9 million, McCain $6.1 million and Obama $5.6 million in the Sunshine State, including donations from high-profile donors. For example, in Miami Beach’s 33139 zip code, Clinton raised $310,921, Obama $174,400 and McCain only $21,500. Some well-known Clinton donors include South Beach Diet author Arthur Agatston ($9,200), preservationist Victor Diaz ($500), Miami Beach Planning Board chair and former commission candidate Frank Kruszewski ($2,100), Ocean Drive magazine’s Jerry and Sandi Powers ($5,600), and 1111 Lincoln Road developer and CANDO chairman Robert Wennett ($2,300). Obama’s high-profile donors in that zip code include Ricky Arriola ($6,500), former Miami Beach commissioner and mayoral candidate Simon Cruz ($1,000) and attorney Sean Ellsworth ($2,550). Financial reports for May are due June 20. Visit www.opensecrets.org to follow the money trail. McCain is behind both Democrats in fundraising. He raised just more than $18 million in April for a total of almost $97 million nationwide. He’s got about $24 million in cash and almost $1 million in debts. In the 33139 zip code, McCain is way behind Clinton and Obama, with only $21,550 collected. However tight the race for cash, equally important is the race for popularity. If an election were held now, Clinton would beat both of her male opponents in Florida, according to poll results released last week. The Quinnipiac University Polling Institute and Rasmussen Reports released data last week showing that Obama would lose to McCain in the Sunshine State. Clinton, however, could narrowly beat McCain here, with Clinton at 45 percent and McCain at 44 percent of the votes, according to the poll. The Quinnipiac University Polling Institute puts Clinton ahead of both gentlemen, with 48 percent to McCain’s 41 percent. In a face-off between the male contenders, McCain is projected to beat Obama 45 to 41 percent. Those polls also found that up to 36 percent of Clinton supporters will vote for McCain if Obama is the nominee, while only up to 18 percent of Obama supporters would turn to the Republican candidate if Clinton got the nod. Now, Clinton is using those numbers to try and convince the party that she is the stronger nominee. But she may not be able to convince the whole country. Clinton maintains that after the Kentucky primary more people had voted for her than for Obama. However, Obama is ahead of Hillary in the popular vote with 16,678,565 votes, or a 455,575-vote lead, according to realclearpolitics.com. Estimates that include the nation’s major caucuses tally Obama’s lead at 565,797 more votes than Clinton. Even adding Florida to that margin, Obama still leads Clinton by 271,025 votes. Only if you count Michigan, where Obama was not on the ballot, is Clinton ahead, by a mere 57,284 votes. With Florida, a red state in the last two presidential elections, still reeling from Clinton’s victory in the primary that wasn’t, Obama is vying for a political upset. But can the Barackstar’s rallies impress voters enough for them to swing his way? “I thought it was amazing,” said Juan Barragan, who was filing out of the arena as a light rain fell. “The speech was pretty good. I’ve never heard anything like it before — it was like a rock concert.”