We need another election or two to really confirm this, but I think we can color FL blue now, or at least a very bluish purple. Nice to have a state that is growing in the blue column.
``We've seen Florida's electorate get more diverse and younger from 2004 to now,'' said Eric Jotkoff, spokesman for the Florida Democratic Party. ``There's a major shift among Hispanic voters this year, with registered Hispanic Democrats outnumbering registered Republicans in Florida for the first time ever.''
Obama beat Republican nominee John McCain by 18 points in Orange County, which surrounds Orlando, thanks in part to a growing Puerto Rican community that traditionally favors Democrats. Bush and Kerry split Orange County in 2004.
Maybe OH too, although Obama's strength around Cincinnati also definitely needs to be confirmed by another election and Congressional pickups. Cincinnati has long been a GOP stronghold, one of the few urban centers that has been so. Even flipping it to 50-50 would go a long way to turning OH blue.
In Ohio's Hamilton County, which includes Cincinnati, voters haven't supported a Democrat for president in 44 years. Obama won by 20,000 votes, 52 percent to 47 percent, a reversal of the 2004 spread between Bush and Kerry.
``In the suburbs of Hamilton County, the Republican message of social values and not talking about job loss didn't work,'' said John Hagner, targeting director for the Ohio Democratic Party.
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