Report: 'Florida May Be Falling From Obama's Grasp'

St. Petersberg Times:

Barack Obama could be on the verge of falling out of contention in Florida.

Despite spending an estimated $8-million on campaign ads in America's biggest battleground state and putting in place the largest Democratic campaign organization ever in Florida, Obama has lost ground over the summer. Florida has moved from a toss-up state to one that clearly leans toward John McCain, fueling speculation about how much longer the Democratic nominee will continue investing so heavily in the state.

Obama can still win Florida despite the polling gains McCain has made since naming Sarah Palin his running mate, and there is no sign Obama is pulling back in Florida yet. Far from it. Obama allies say he has about 350 paid staffers in the state and about 50 field offices, including in places not known as fertile ground for Democrats, such as Sun City Center, Lake City and Sebring.

Read the whole story: St. Petersberg Times

Comments

[RButler]

Where were all those 'secret' Obama voters when Hillary was winning many of those later primaries? You know. The ones with cell phone or whatever that didn't show up in polls.

[Sparklez]

Just like when he was supposed to lose Iowa


He won it

So???

[PJay1]

He can and WILL win Florida!

Repeat after me:

McCain wants to cut and privatize Social Security and Medicare.

He wants to "reform" and cut spending, starting with those "entitlement" programs that seniors count on.

Bingo! Florida for Obama/Biden

It's that simple.

[rocky786]

Pessimistic thought...­quit whining and be positive..­.YES WE CAN!~

[PJay1]

Huh? I said "he can and WILL win Florida!"

How is that 'pessimistic' or 'whining'?

[MrPragmatic]

O is going to lose this thing. Never mind about a veeps qualifications. This first term senator is just not going to win. Dems should have got behind HRC and had her take BO as her veep. Incredible.

[HerbTee]

Should have...wou­ld have...cou­ld have. Obama's choice for VP was his own as he is his own man. Now S-T-F-U!

[RButler]

If he loses, will you S-T-F-U?

[jacqmac]

I REPEAT! The REPUBLICANS and MCCAIN WANTED HILLARY TO BE THE NOMINEE! Why?
BECAUSE THEY HAVE A WHOLE LIBRARY FULL OF SMEAR MATERIAL TO USE ON HER!
You think THIS is ugly? It IS, but not EVEN HALF as UGLY as the smears and lies about HILLARY CLINTON could POSSIBLY have been!
There's an OBAMA CAMPAIGN STAFF in Florida-they haven't been pulled out! Again with the hand wringing and what 'might have been'. Repeat after me--OBAMA IS OUR CANDIDATE OBAMA IS HILLARY CLINTON'S CANDIDATE! If you are in this MERELY BECAUSE OF HILLARY OR OBAMA, YOU ARE IN IT FOR THE WRONG REASONS!

[jacqmac]

I gather that you are voting for McCain/Palin as a 'protest vote' against Obama/Biden then. Therefore, since you have made up your mind to go with fear, division and doubt, get OFF this list! And- if you aren't a McCain/Palin supporter, then GET OUT IN THE STREET AND WORK YOUR TAIL OFF. Quit the 'Armchair campaign managing'. Voter suppression? The Obama campaign is ON IT like white on rice. Lies? Smears? Half-truths? Obama campaign is ON IT like white on rice. Too bad that the Republicans get all red in the face and start yelling while the Dems are cool, calm, and collected. NOW-if we can just get that REPUBLICAN nominee to act like one of his surrogates--which I believe WILL happen-OBAMA WILL WIN THIS! "HANDILY"

[McChimp]

remember, if O had picked Hillary that would have fired up the GOP better than the Palin pick has, the GOP DREAMT of an Obama-Hillary ticket.

A Hillary VP would have helped O politically, but not strategically, as Hillary would have turned off Independents and swing voters. Biden has working class appeal that Hillary doesn't, plus Biden is more of an attack dog than Hillary is.

Mc going with Palin was a sign of him writing the election off, he didn't even take the time to adequately vet her, and she so many skeletons in her closet, she makes Hillary look squeaky clean. Mc really wanted Lieberman, but caved into the special interests lobbyists running his campaign that want nothing more than power and greed. The more that is learned about Palin, the less appealing she is to voters. The fact that Palin didn't know what the Bush doctrine was says it all, and the Dems should call her out for that blunder.

[MsLiz]

Strange profile, member since March 08 but never made a post. Not even the above one.

[CJGibson]

That's a remarkably bad interpretation of the latest polls.

In fact, compared with the average "bounce" McCain got from his campaign, he's seen almost no improvement in Florida. Joe Biden plays a lot better in Florida than Sarah Palin does.

[Darkdonnie]

For the last 45 days McCain has been pulling better numbers almost everyday!

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/fl/florida_mccain_vs_obama-418.html

[rocky786]

Seems Suspicious­...!~
No way , no how, No Mccain!~

[orangepetal]

Stupid, racist, low informed, ignorant Republicans why wont they accept the chosen one.
Don't they know it is the end of America ? Don't they read ?

[wadda]

It looks like a setup to re-program the voting machines.

See, it's no surprise. We could see this coming....­sorta defense.

I don't trust them, and government is with the consent of the governed; or it has to resort to fear.

[oxford]

Florida voting will be just as crooked this time as in 2000. There is a massive attack going on to disenfranchise, what the GOP (still in charge of elections) consider to be the Democratic voters. They control the voter lists and are attacking by means of racial and ethnic profiling to prevent these people from voting. NOTHING CHANGES. Sick S.O.B.s will win again. MSM never mentions this.

[Darkdonnie]

Holy cr@p it must be part of the vast right wing conspiracy!!!
And the MSM are in on it OOOHHHHH NNNOOOOO!
It's the end of the world as we know it!

[Swedishgal]

Could be if McCain gets in. Even Greenspan says we can't afford his tax cuts and Volcker is supporting Obama and is advising him. I'll take the smart guy, you know, Obama.

[orangepetal]

The DNC already disenfranchised Florida voters. Did you forget ?

[KMcGee]

We would love to have FL on the team, but if not F T! We will win without them. They have one of the highest foreclosure rates in country! If they don't want change, ole well because it's coming.

[Probus]

It is too early to write off FL for Obama. The McCain campaign is crowing too soon. We have a long way to go till Nov, Obama won't hand over FL to McCain he will fight for every vote.

[Darkdonnie]

You will need to be careful with your money after paying off Hillary’s debts. But you should spend a lot more money in Florida, send it to SunshineDaydream boy he is guaranteeing a win! Spend more in Texas also!

[toochie50]

The polls do not reflect the millions of newly registered voters by Obama - we will see on November 4th - we will all just have to wait and see won't we?

[KMcGee]

Thank You!

[toochie50]

PumaAnn - are you really Sean Hannity in drag?
you cannot be a true dem - you are here just to create mischief. If you are a woman, i bet you are 350lbs. , eating a gallon of Ben and Jerrys on a Saturday night and boo hooing about having no boyfriend or love in your life.

[likewoah]

Oh, great call. Sheer genius. Insulting women and weight issues will have people flocking to Obama...If you think she's a fake, ignore her!

[AzRealProgressive]

You could say that about what the MSM is doing to Palin right now. Very unhelpful to Obama.

[pupbayer]

Typical classy 'bot.

[McChimp]

typical I D I O T

[JiminNC]

No, Sean is PumaAnn in drag.

[Swedishgal]

LOL

[likewoah]

This post raises a good topic: Are polls a good thing for our country and our elections? I take a very dim view of polls, believing them to be ludicrously over-hyped and comically flawed. I get the sense many readers/co­ntributors on this site agree, but if so why do we spend so much time hashing them to death?

[Darkdonnie]

When in favor of O they are good!
When opposed to O they are wrong!
I guess you can believe you have it both way's.

[likewoah]

Where is your evidence for that statement? I think polls are terrible no matter who they indicate is winning. I guess you make up evidence to compensate for a lack of insight or anything relevant to contribute.

Also, your shoeshine post below is in poor taste.

[likewoah]

also, "ways" shouldn't have an apostrophe.

[ObamAtomic]

Charlie you get all excited,do you know how to roll?,Char­lie,relax,­O/B-08

[Chillinout]

The only thing the polls are EVER good for is to notice trends. The numbers on any given day do not matter. Polls, in and of themselves can be an extremely accurate snapshot of the electorate. This year, however, the polls have been notoriously wrong. So I look for them for the trends they are showing and not the actual numbers.

As for Darkdonnie down there. When they favor McClone you tr0lls think they are good and when they favor O you think they are bad. It is the nature of the beast.

[likewoah]

I hear what you're saying about trends, and certainly polls can sometimes put races in the right ballpark. I agree, for instance, that the race has become tighter since Palin was named as McCain's running mate, i just don't think polls are giving an accurate representation of how/why it is tightening.

The trends that polls identify are only as good as the call lists they generate at the beginning of the poll. These lists are supposed to be representative of the general voting public, but I don't think that pollsters accurately consider the multiplicity of factors that influence voter behavior. If they are constantly using the same flawed formula to generate these lists, then the poll results will be flawed, even over time.

The obvious example is the large segment of the voting public who do not have a landline phone. On NPR the other day, pollsters from both right and left organizations admitted the obvious flaw in their methods here.

[SMCUVS]

Would you be talking like this if the polls showed Obama ahead. Every four years the same old thing. Kerry is ahead in 2 out of 11 polls. Gore is ahead in 3 out of 9 polls. Right now McCain is ahead or tied in every major poll. Bottom line----Kerry lost, Gore lost, Obama???????????

[rocky786]

Interesting perspective!~

[ObamAtomic]

Charlie this time is different,,,,,,,we are prepared Charlie...­.

[riverhippie]

It's funny how a couple of weeks ago you libs posted and bragged about polls every day.

Now that they don't look so good for Obama anymore, they are unimportant and unreliable.

You guys crack me up.

[RButler]

Ditto. They can't help themselves.

[BillCarson]

>It's funny how a couple of weeks ago you libs posted and bragged about polls every day

No they didn't.

[MConde]

Don't worry, the guy thats been predicting the last 4 elections and has been correct in all of them, says that O will win by a landslide 54.3 to 44.5. I believe him because me and many of my college friends are voting for the first time.

[toochie50]

darkdonnie - you are pathetic. Why then is Obama leading by about 60% in D.C.?

[AzRealProgressive]

He should be. D.C. is overwhelmingly Democratic and the demographics are very favorable to Obama. D.C. has a significant portion of registered voters who are black, or describe themselves so. In that category Obama is leading 94-1.

[SunshineDaydream]

omg - snl -- lmao

[SunshineDaydream]

best.opene­r.ever!!

[Chillinout]

Don't give it away, some of us have a couple of hours before it comes on. :-)

[Swedishgal]

Crap! I forgot it was tonight. AAAAH!. I missed it.

[Dunsmuir]

I have read this blog and just want to make a comment from my little corner of the world, Vancouver, Canada. I keep a pt time position in a gift shop in a major downtown hotel. We have people from every part of the world either visiting Vancouver, taking the boats to Alaska and/or the train through the Rockies. I have had a chance to talk to 350-400 Americans about the election. The truth is that out of that amount of people, ALL exept for one woman from Colarado, and one man from Virginia were for Obama. When the news came out about Palin, two elderly women from Ohuio told me they were so upset that as soon as they gor back to the States they were going to volunteer for Obama. SOMETHING is wrong with your polls. Just so you know also, when Australians, Eueopeans etc. were present they were all for Obama too. You're running against the world's slickest machine. Hang in there and Good Luck to all of you.

[SunshineDaydream]

thank you so much, dunsmuir. very comforting to hear. all i can go by is what i see myself or read/watch on the internet, bc i do not trust our msm.

[ezbreezer]

Always good to hear from a BC Bud.

[Chillinout]

Nice play on words there.

hehe

[Darkdonnie]

I run a small shoeshine shop in DC and I see hundreds and hundreds of my people every day and everyone I talk to is fo sur voting for McCain not Hussein in 08

[nomobull]

bs

[ezbreezer]

How'd you get a shop in Karl Rove's office?

[janeadams]

In DC? Uh huh. And I flew to Jupiter yesterday.

[ObamAtomic]

Charlie where is your shoeshine is located?,Charlie shoeshine you are
a delusional shoeshine,Charlie please....
we do not believe you one bit,,,,,,,,Rick Roll

[disgusted48]

Your poll may be flawed. You are talking to people that actually are interested in a world outside of their own little bubble. People that are curious, thoughtful and intelligent. People that perhaps aren't driven by their own fears and prejudices. That's not the overwhelming majority of Americans.

[HerbTee]

Thank you Dunsmuir. It's always good to hear what our Canadian neighbors, the Europeans, Africans, Asians and other nationalities have to say about the American election process. We are in the fight our lives now. So many Americans are disgusted, fed up, sick and tired of the Republicans, the illegal Iraq war, disrespect for our laws and our Constitution, 8 failed years of Bush policies and politics, disrespect for our former allies and the list goes on. You may see a lot of vitriol between us on this site...a siege mentality of sorts. Just bear with us. Obama is not just a political candidate to so many of us, he is a movement to help take back our country from the Republican right-wingnuts, the liars, the warmongers and those who try to divide us by race, class and monetary means.

Bear with us...it'll be over soon come November 5th. :-)

[HerbTee]

F**k Florida! Leave it to the Rethugs and the raci$ts who breed down there! Obama should move north, towards the Midwest and westward

[SunshineDaydream]

green tea, dude. how about you not believe everything you read. o is running an amazing campaign down here. their only chance at florida is election fraud - and we will not let them get away with it again.

[HerbTee]

SD, I lived in and attended college in Florida for about 6 years (1979 to 1985) and I still have relatives who live there. Florida is a ignorant, backwards, raci$t state if ever there was one. I say let the Rethugs have it and let's move on to more promising, more fruitful efforts. Obama is wasting his time trying to court Florida.

[pupbayer]

So, if O loses, it's voter fraud. If he wins, it's not?

[JestMe]

I have to agree with the above rant. I moved here from the Midwest 17 yrs ago and this state is chock full of rednecks and GOP sheep that are too stupid to see any logic layed before them. I'm here for the sunshine. This state if full of very dense and ignorant dropouts and druggies.

[Swedishgal]

I can't be around idiocy. How do you stand it? My heart goes out to you. Does the movie "Idiocracy" mean anything to you? I know, you live around it every day.

[ezbreezer]

I like your attitude and invite anybody of any political stripe to stay the F**k out of Florida or move north
with two of your brethren under each arm.
There are plenty of people here now. Lots of empty houses,few jobs,and low wages are the norm.

[HerbTee]

Ezbreezer, my 83 year old father and stepmother lives in Volusia County, FL along with uncles, aunts and cousins. My dad tells me the state seems to be much worse, not getting better. This is coming from a old man who was born and raised in Florida and have seen it all, from Jim Crow segregation, discrimination, the Civil Rights movement and all in between. I've lived there and have gone back to Florida for visits many times and I never liked it there very much.

[SunshineDaydream]

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