The only thing sure about Florida politics is that it’s rarely a sure thing. By 8 a.m. this morning, Florida was still too close to call. The closeness of the presidential race in Florida is reminiscent of state’s gubernatorial election in 2010. In that election, Democrat Alex Sink, the state’s former chief financial officer, lost to Republican Rick Scott by just 1 percent. Sink attributes much of Obama’s success in keeping Florida from going to Romney to his strategies for getting out the vote – and to the fact that several large constituencies in Florida are turned off by the Republican message.
“The Republican message is not an appealing one to many women,” Sink says. “And the second part of their message that is not good for Florida, is this hard line stance on immigrants.”
She also discusses the Obama campaign’s incredible knack for knowing who their voters are, and making sure they vote. She received a text message from the Obama campaign yesterday asking her to make calls for Obama, and she was then given the name and telephone number of a voter in Ohio within a matter of seconds.
“I had another friend who told me that she had gotten three calls at their home over the weekend from the Obama campaign who said, ‘We know you and your husband have already voted early, but your son hasn’t. Can you assure us that you will encourage your son to vote by the end of the day on Tuesday?’ It was that micro-targeted, and it was just absolutely amazing. I’m sure a book will be written about their use of technology.”
Still, Sink doesn’t believe that technology trumps message. “For the good of the country, it is my fervent hope that the Republicans wake up this morning… and recognize that their message is not the right message to carry our country and our state forward, and they need to rethink the way they approach government.”