At Florida event, Democrats cry foul
By Sarah Schweitzer, Globe Staff, 12/7/2003
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Democratic presidential candidates flocked to a Walt Disney World resort here yesterday, seeking to tap into the pain of the 2000 election and denounce the administration it installed, enthralling state party convention delegates who seemed happiest when jeering the GOP and President Bush.
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"After masterminding the debacle in December 2000, taking the presidency through the assistance of the United States Supreme Court and a former secretary of state," said retired General Wesley K. Clark to cheers from the crowd, estimated at 3,000, "George W. Bush has become one of the most polarizing and divisive figures in American history."
With signs reading "Re-defeat Bush" and jokes from several presidential hopefuls riffing on reports -- later proved false -- that the turkey Bush held during a surprise troop visit in Iraq was a fake ("That is not the only fake turkey in this administration," said former Vermont governor Howard Dean), the convention at the Coronado Springs Resort took on a rollicking rally-like feel.
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Around the hall, the Dean presence was strong, owing to the campaign's $50,000 donation to the state party, made upon a request from party officials that other campaigns declined.
The money bought Dean, the fundraising leader among Democratic contenders, tables and space for a delegate training session, along with a DVD sent to delegates with a message from Dean, said Scott Maddox, the party chair.
Six of the contenders addressed the crowd yesterday. Senator Joe Lieberman plans to address the group today; former Senator Carol Moseley Braun missed the event because of illness, and the Rev. Al Sharpton skipped it to host NBC's "Saturday Night Live."
The convention was a kind of last hurrah for Florida Democrats until the general election gets underway. Florida is a crucial battleground for Democrats, with its 27 electoral votes, two more than in 2000. But it is a late primary state, voting on March 9 after more than two dozen states select delegates, and thus is expected to play a relatively minor role in choosing the Democratic nominee.
The state Democratic Party tried to elevate the state's role in the primaries by proposing a straw poll for the convention, a move met with a groundswell of support here. But the candidates, along with national party leaders, balked because they worried it would siphon time and money from crucial early votes like Iowa's caucuses Jan.19 and New Hampshire's primary Jan. 27.
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In the end, the straw poll was nixed, and the delegates focused their energy on condemning the 2000 election, when the Supreme Court halted the recount of Florida ballots after five weeks, with Bush ahead of Gore by just 537 votes. Many party leaders called the results a false win for Bush.
Yesterday the lingering animus was evident, with Democratic leaders firing up the audience with bitter rhetoric. "We need a leader to help us get revenge," said former Representative Carrie Meek, Florida's first elected African American Congresswoman.
Republicans on hand denounced what they called the negativity of the Democratic message, saying it would play well with the liberal wing but not with less ideological swing voters.
"They have chosen a McGovern-Mondale strategy of only appealing to their base," said Ralph Reed, the southeast regional chairman of the Bush campaign, referring to the Democratic nominees who ultilmately failed to capture the White House in 1972 and 1984, respectively.
"It says a lot about where the hearts of these candidates are," Reed said, as Kucinich supporters surrounded him and drowned him out with chants attacking globalization and abortion opponents.<font size=3>
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
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