As GOP race reaches Fla., economy is dominant issue and Obama the main target
MIAMI — Property manager Nancy Leon knows all too well the effects of Florida’s dismal economy. People can’t pay their condominium association fees and fall behind on mortgages or rent. The condo property suffers. Then it has to cut costs, which makes the place less attractive for new residents. A vicious cycle.
“People are really struggling. We see it every day,” says Leon, a 42-year-old Republican who voted for President Barack Obama in 2008 as a symbol of hope and change but now isn’t sure the Democrat should get another term. Yet, she’s not sold on Republican front-runner Mitt Romney or his rivals. Like many other Florida residents, she can’t help but fret: “We are so knee-deep in the economic problems, so far down in the hole, who is going to get us out?”
With the Florida Republican presidential primary looming on Jan. 31 and Obama coming to the state Thursday to announce a new economic initiative, this is the grim situation in a key campaign battleground: Ten percent unemployment. Rampant home foreclosures. Nearly half the state’s homeowners owing more on their mortgages than their properties are worth.
Ten months before the election, Florida’s environment presents a stark challenge for Obama and an opportunity for the eventual Republican nominee in the nation’s largest state with a history of vacillating between choosing Republicans and Democrats in presidential contests.
Obama carried Florida in 2008 against Republican John McCain, 51 percent to 48 percent. And, for now at least, Florida voters don’t seem to be abandoning Obama in droves. A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed the president and Romney, the GOP front-runner, in a near-statistical tie in the state in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup.
Reflecting the stakes for the fall even though the GOP hasn’t settled on a nominee, Republicans and Democrats alike have been busy testing lines of argument on the economy.
In a recent appearance in West Palm Beach, Romney mentioned almost nothing about Florida-specific issues such as offshore oil drilling and U.S.-Cuba relations, focusing instead on criticizing Obama and promoting his own economic plans. Campaign mailers sent to Florida Republicans echoed the strategy.
“Our economy has fallen flat. Who’s to blame?”
By Associated Press
