MIAMI-- "Why watch it? McCain's already lost the election."
So spoke a "nominally" Republican woman last night as she was taking a smoke break outside of The Lakes Cafe here in suburban Miami Lakes, the town built by the (Governor Bob) Graham family.
The relatively affluent neighborhood of famed former Dolphins head coach Don Shula and K.C. (of Sunshine Band infamy) skews Democrat, and has a healthy Republican presence on its voter rolls, but it seems inordinately independent.
In fact the debate watch party was held on behalf of former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez, the Democratic challenger to incumbent Republican Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart, while the hosts were the owners of The Lakes Cafe itself: Florida State Representative Eddie Gonzalez and Hialeah Councilman Luis Gonzalez (no relation), both Republican.
Also in attendance was Hialeah Councilman Carlos Hernandez, another Republican who, like the two Gonzalez's, has officially endorsed Raul Martinez for Congress. And while neither councilmen are in the tank for Obama, their hosting an election eve event for a Democratic challenger to a congressman who's on McCain's Hispanic Advisory Board surely doesn't bode well for the Arizona senator.
Then again, according to the few who actually tore themselves away from their conversations to watch the debate, McCain didn't really bode well for McCain either.
"He looks ugly," said one who dared a gander. "Angry," said another. "What's wrong with the man?" asked a third. "He seems like he's gonna implode."
There was one occasion during the 90-minute prime-time spar for the presidency where everyone did pay attention, and that was when Raul Martinez finally walked into the room. Martinez, a scrappy, old school politico with yet another new lease on political life, was fresh from a contentious televised debate of his own, but seemed not at all any worse for the wear.
Perhaps that's because the former mayor, who beat corruption charges leveled against him by the husband (former U.S. Attorney for South Florida General Dexter Lehtinen) of another congressional incumbent (Ileana Ros-Lehtinen), also happened to be celebrating the endorsement of The Miami Herald, the only non incumbent endorsed by South Florida's largest newspaper.
See, in this town, especially these days, party is a lot less important than the person. And if the latter happens to be someone who came back from the brink to again run Miami-Dade County's second largest city, well, that person is going to be pretty popular.
"I believe that with the state of the country right now, people look more at what a candidate has done - and what he's going to do," said Councilman Hernandez during the debate, reaffirming his support the man everybody seems to call "Raul."
And in Martinez's case it includes a combined 24 years in the mayor's seat, which is a whole lot of done and do.
Was it a great debate watch party? No. But it was a pretty good party all the same. Just don't ask anyone to say which party it belonged to.