The Sunshine Empire

This weekend has been wall to wall with clear live politics in The Sunshine Empire and there is so much to tell. The weekend began at an Obama fund raiser in St. Augustine Florida. I was fortunate to see a great turn out and was also fortunate enough to meet with the Governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano. Ironically as the Governor began speaking at this outdoor venue at a private residence it began to rain. She made the joke that in Arizona it would be news if the Governor was speaking in a rainstorm. The Governor is a bright star in the Democratic fold having won reelection as a Democrat in a Republican state such as Arizona, and I was glad to meet her.

The political coverage continued as I decided to leave very early for Senator Barack Obama’s speech that was to begin at 2:30 at Metropolitan Park in Downtown Jacksonville, right on the banks of the St. Johns River. Now Jacksonville has in the last 15 years become a very red city, with guerrilla Democrats hiding in the shadows. But today came as a complete shock to me. Senator John McCain had moved his appearance here to the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, feeling that he could draw a large crowd. The move was bad, for many reasons. Pictures from the event showed the cavernous Arena mostly empty, not to mention the Senator saying the now oft repeated line that “the fundamentals of our economy are sound.” When I showed up at Metro Park the thousands and thousands of people were lined up outside. I was barely able to get into the park before the city had to close the gates due to capacity issues.

Thousands remained outside. It was a cloudy and breezy day, but my dumb ass managed to get a sunburn. The African-American community in Jacksonville turned out for Senator Obama and it gave me the hope that they are not being expected by the pollsters to turn out in the numbers that they eventually truly will. In many of the early primary states that Senator Obama won, he often won by wider margins than the polls were indicating. But that may just be wishful thinking. The Senator was late, but when he took the stage the crowd lit up.

The Senator gave a speech that was not too far from his standard stump speech, but in this historic election we have enjoyed being at the nexus of it for this week. Florida is now tied up, and should be an interesting state to watch on November 4th. I feel with or without Ohio, if Florida drops for Obama the race is over. Now I still would predict Florida will go Senator McCain’s way, but he’s going to have to fight hard for it.

I was really proud of my hometown today. The Sunshine Empire showed up today. Regardless of party events like today do make you feel the momentous point in history.

Related posts:

1. Barack Obama Comes To The Sunshine Empire
2. TSE Election Central: Live Blogging The DNC Night 2
3. TSE Election Central: Wrap Up Of Live Blogging The DNC
4. The Sunshine Empire Touch
5. TSE Election Central: McCain-mentum?