TAMPA/SANFORD, FL — For Florida voters, the choice is clear—
either you can vote for Iraq, or for the economy.
With Mitt Romney and John McCain locked in a tight battle that
could determine the outcome of the Republican nomination, each
candidate spent their final day before the primary focusing on
their strongest issue, and largely ignoring all others.
“We have a decision to make at a critical time,” Romney told
supporters at a noon rally on Monday held in an aircraft
maintenance facility by the Orlando-Sanford Airport. “Are we going
to have a president who understands the economy right down to the
center of his core, in his DNA like me, or not?”
Later that day in Tampa, McCain, flanked by his newest
supporter, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, struck a different tone.
“My friends, I’m going to get right to the point,” he said. “I’m
running for President of the United States because I believe I can
keep America safe.”
Romney, who used to warn his audiences about the threat posed by
global jihad and the desire of radical Islamic terrorists to
restore the Caliphate, scrapped such rhetoric as he made his
closing pitch to voters.
“Something is happening here in Florida, and you know, it’s a
lot of concern about what’s happening in the economy,” he said,
with a Falcon 50 aircraft parked behind him. “When I came to
Florida, people began asking a lot about the economy. And that’s
something that’s in my wheelhouse. You see, I think it’s helpful,
if you want to run the economy, to have actually had a job in the
private sector, which I’ve had.”
DESPITE HIS DEFEAT in Michigan, where economic issues played a
large role, and indications of rising economic anxiety among
Americans, McCain didn’t place much emphasis on the economy at his
rally.
“We face the transcendent challenge of radical Islamic extremism
that threatens everything we stand for and believe in, that is the
greatest force of evil that the nation has ever faced, and my
friends, I am prepared to lead,” McCain declared.
Romney recited a list of problems, including making Social
Security solvent, ending illegal immigration, and making health
care affordable and portable. After describing how Washington had
long promised to solve each of them, he ended with the refrain,
“They haven’t, we will.”
“Now, there’s another guy running on our side, Senator McCain,
who’s a good man, he’s a hero, but his views on the economy, well,
I think are summed up by his own statement that it’s not really
something he understands that well,” Romney told the crowd. “He
said that a couple of times and indicated that when he chooses his
vice president, it would have to be somebody who really understood
the economy. Well, I do understand the economy.”
The crowd erupted with cheers, and then Romney followed up with,
“I’m not going to be any vice president to John McCain,
either.”
Romney also blasted the McCain-Lieberman “cap and trade” system
to limit carbon dioxide emissions, which he claimed would cost
$1,000 a year for a family of four.
When McCain spoke, he reemphasized that he was the only
candidate to oppose the Rumsfeld strategy, declaring it “doomed for
failure,” and insisting on sending more troops to Iraq when it was
unpopular to do so.
He talked about his trip to Iraq last summer when he and Sen.
Lindsey Graham met with Gen. David Petraeus.
“We knew that the Democrats were trying to support a date for
withdrawal, a date for surrender, and we went back and we took them
on, and we beat them,” McCain thundered. “And if they had set that
date for surrender my friends, Al Qaeda would be telling the world
that they defeated the United States of America. That will never
happen on my watch.”
WHILE EACH CANDIDATE did venture onto the other’s turf, they did so
only briefly, and quickly shifted the focus back to the area on
which they felt most comfortable.
For instance, Romney mentioned his support for expanding the
military, but only in the context of explaining that we need a
strong economy to support it.
McCain expressed support for green technologies and innovation,
and said, “The strength of America is to let American businesses
have their way, get the government out of their way.” But then he
quickly began talking about how “brave young Americans who are
willing to serve this country will get my outstanding support and
my leadership.”
While, if pressed, Romney and McCain would no doubt emphasize
that both issues are important, it has become clear in which arena
each of them feels comfortable.
As Floridians head to the polls today, they could determine
whether national security or the economy becomes the dominant issue
for the Republicans in 2008.
