GOP anxiety builds as Obama holds lead in Florida

[seafan]

GOP anxiety builds as Obama holds lead in Florida

By Adam C. Smith, Times Political Editor
October 15, 2008

Republicans are increasingly worried about John McCain's prospects in must-win Florida.

The McCain campaign spent most of the summer watching Obama build a massive voter mobilization operation and flood Florida's TV airwaves with ads. For months, they scoffed at how little it did to boost Obama, but now the Democrat has opened up a steady lead in Florida polls and top Republicans are sounding uncharacteristically anxious that the campaign and state party are doing too little, too late.

"Obama obviously has spent a ton of dough, and the fact that we haven't spent a fraction of that has got people concerned. They see all these ads and very little response,'' said former Republican National Committee finance chairman Al Hoffman, a top McCain fundraiser in Florida. "We're three weeks away and have a lot of work to do. We can play Monday morning quarterback after the election."

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(Florida Governor Charlie) Crist has lowered his profile campaign profile considerably since McCain picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. Crist is expected to campaign with McCain in Miami and Melbourne on Friday, and on Tuesday brushed off the notion that he was backing away in any way.

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While McCain was leading Obama in Florida polls as recently as late September, the global economic crisis has taken a toll. The average of recent Florida polls now shows Obama with a five-point lead. Even a far superior Republican get-out-the-vote effort would be unable to close that gap if it holds.
A Politico/InsiderAdvantage poll of 638 likely voters in Hillsborough County (margin of error plus or minus 3.8 percent) released Tuesday showed Obama leading McCain 47 percent to 41 percent. If accurate, that would spell real trouble for McCain, as Hillsborough consistently goes Republican in presidential elections.

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While Republican leaders in Tampa Bay say they see a strong grass-roots operation with plenty of enthusiastic volunteers, many Republicans are skeptical. Veterans of past Republicans campaigns say they see little outreach by volunteers and note that Crist never focused on grass roots mobilization as aggressively as Jeb Bush.
Bush-Cheney officials used to scoff at Democrats' reliance on paid canvassers and phone callers. This year the McCain-Palin campaign is offering to pay people $12 an hour to knock on doors, and the state GOP is offering $50 and $100 gas cards to people who make enough calls or knock on enough doors.

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The tsunami is on the horizon.