TAMPA — In 2000 Florida became critically important only on
Election Day and after, when it became clear Florida’s 27
electoral votes would decide the matter. This year we know
up-front that Florida will be critical, especially for John
McCain, who can’t win without it. This is why with a week and
change left until the election it’s hard to take a walk in
Central Florida without tripping over somebody on one ticket or
the other.
Last week it was Barack Obama’s turn for a multi-day Florida
visit, and Joe Biden will be in New Port Richey today, Ocala and
Melbourne Tuesday, and the West Palm Beach area Wednesday. But
Sunday was Sarah Palin’s turn to fire up the local faithful in an
appearance before about 4,000 at the Tampa Convention Center. And
fire them up she did, with the standard McCain/Palin themes of
lower taxes, less regulation, smaller government, energy
independence, and a vigorous, no-defeat, foreign policy.
“We need a tough, experienced leader now,” Palin said, leaving
unsaid but hanging in the air that a rookie who recoils from the
word “victory” just won’t do. “Our pro-growth policy will get the
economy back on track,” she said. “We recognize small business is
the backbone of our economy.”
Palin repeatedly returned to the theme that a McCain/Palin
administration would lower taxes and allow Americans to keep more
of their own money rather than increase taxes to allow the
federal government to “spread the wealth around,” as would almost
surely happen in an Obama administration. She said, “It’s not
mean-spirited or negative campaigning to call someone out on
their record.” She then went on to call out you-know-who in clear
terms. The word “socialist” came up.
There was plenty of red meat in the rest of Palin’s remarks,
including a huge cheer when “drill-baby-drill” came up, as it
always does. She promised that a McCain/Palin administration
would spread opportunity rather than “your wealth,” and would not
punish hard work and initiative. She said the McCain/Palin agenda
“is not the Obama, Pelosi, Reid agenda.”
AS INSTRUCTIVE as Palin’s remarks were, and as enthusiastic the
response to her was, what her assembled fans shared with me
before the services got under way was just as interesting.
Pollsters and most of the left-stream media may think the race is
over (you can look up the numbers yourself), and that Obama has
only to put the finishing touches on his inaugural address and
choose a collection of lefties for his cabinet. (Bill Ayers for
Secretary of Education?) But the Sunday bunch in Tampa still
believes the race is on. They gave up a big cheer and some hoots
when Palin said that she and Obama had both played basketball,
“but you have to win the game before you cut down the net.” These
guys are enthusiastic McCain/Palin boosters, and they know why.
Some samples:
David Parks of Lakeland, a 41-year-old former Marine captain who
does IT work, said the lead changed hands when the economy took a
dive and could just as well change again. He questions the
methodologies some pollsters use when designing their samples.
Troy and Amy Beaubien of Bradenton say they aren’t big believers
in polls. “It’s a stacked deck,” Troy said.
Martha Chianella of New Port Richey, a middle-aged, pro-life
Catholic, likes Palin’s energy and optimistic personality and
appreciates her lifetime associations with upright people rather
than some of the distinctly off-plumb characters Obama has chosen
to hang with. As a young woman and mother of four in New York,
Chianella found herself for a time on welfare. But she said when
things turned around for her she paid the state back all the
money she had collected. What a concept.
“Life is a do-it-yourself project,” she said. “It’s not a
give-away.”
Richard Platt of Brandon was wearing an NRA tee-shirt with a
campaign button that says “You go, girl” next to a picture of
Sarah Palin. Platt is still clinging to his guns, but he’s not
noticeably bitter (I didn’t ask about his religion). He says
Obama and Pelosi and Reid are all anti-gun and fears Obama would
try to stack the Supreme Court with anti-Second Amendment
justices.
Thirtyish Jennifer Jolly-Gonzalez of Tampa was fetching in a hat
with homemade moose antlers. Her advice for voters leaning toward
Obama was, “Just vote present.” Her husband, Juan Carlos
Gonzalez, wore a tee-shirt with the legend “Misery in the Making”
over a likeness of Obama. Juan says he’s a record producer,
mostly heavy metal stuff, which I told him sounded like
Democratic territory to me. He said many of his rockers are
conservative, at least in the economic area.
“You can be crazy as a loon and still not want to pay high
taxes,” he said.
Good point.
THERE WERE ONLY a scattering of black people in attendance. One,
John Massie, owns a commercial arts studio in Tampa and says
taxes are his number one issue.
“Anybody who says he’s going to tax me more doesn’t get my vote;
I don’t care what color he is,” Massie said. “I’ve listened to
Barack. He’s an inspirational speaker. But I just can’t relate to
the man.”
Massie says he’s disappointed not to see more minorities at the
rally. “We’re still drinking the Kool-Aid,” he said. He expressed
the conservative approach to life and government in a clear and
economical way. “You (government) take care of the basics; I’ll
take care of the rest. If you don’t pull yourself up by your
bootstraps, the government will take your shoes.”
This guy should be running for something.
Another 40ish black guy from Tampa said he came just to see
Sarah. Asked what attracted him (other than what would attract
almost any man to Sarah Palin), he said, “She’s ordinary people.
It seems like now everyone in politics has to be a millionaire. I
can relate to her.” He threw in that McCain is good at coming
from behind, so he’s not at all sure the race is over.
A middle-aged lady from Tampa said that as a small-business owner
she was frightened by Obama’s tax policies and heavy leftist
tendencies. She said she had never voted for a Republican for
president, but would this time. Her companion, also a middle-aged
lady, said she is an employee of the City of Tampa but still
believes there’s too much government now and doesn’t want to put
Obama in charge and make things worse.
There were more, but you get the idea. The themes of Sarah
Palin’s normality and the conviction that she understands
ordinary people’s lives came up over and over again. As did the
suspicion that Obama was some exotic whose world is nothing like
the world these folks live in. If candidates and pundits are wary
of using the word “socialist,” these folks aren’t. And these
thoughts didn’t just come from middle-aged white-breads. Just
about every demographic was represented, including college
students like 20-something Quinay Felicidario, who came to the
U.S. from the Philippines 15 years ago.
“It’s an honor to see Sarah Palin,” she said. “I like her
beliefs.”
OK, the poll numbers remain pretty doleful for McCain/Palin. But
if you have some ground to make up in a short time, the folks I
talked to Sunday are not a bad bunch to have on your side. When I
hear people say, “America is the greatest country on earth,” it’s
hard not to think of people like these.
