Florida GOP: Discord Turns Party Red With Dismay | Newsweek Scope

THE REPUBLICANS
Looking To The Future
Jessica Bennett 11/5/2008 12:00:00 AM
It was the typical stuff of a college frat party: pepperoni pizza, cheap beer, a big-screen television and a vigorous game of the drinking game Beirut. But on this night, friends of Sigma Alpha Epsilon had gathered for a different kind of party. "Dude, Obama's got Florida!" someone shouted during the final moments of the 2008 campaign. "Turn the volume up!" bellowed another.
FLORIDA
The Fight for the Jewish Vote
Catharine Skipp 10/10/2008 12:00:00 AM
Like many Jews in south Florida, Todd and Jamie Ehrenreich are registered Democrats who have faithfully cast ballots for their party's presidential nominees as long as they can remember. But this year, they'd decided to back Sen. John McCain, the Republican candidate. "We are over the $250,000 tax bracket, and we didn't want to lose our money," Jamie says. "We wanted to benefit from our own American dream."
CAMPAIGN 2008
A New Latino Mix
Arian Campo-Flores 9/30/2008 12:00:00 AM
At a Puerto Rican community center in Orlando two weeks ago, a parade of Republican luminaries took the stage to plug their presidential candidate en español. "John McCain es nuestro amigo," said John Quiñones, an Osceola County commissioner born in Puerto Rico ("John McCain is our friend"). "El país primero antes que la ambición personal," declared U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez ("Country first before personal ambition"). There, too, were former Florida Governors Jeb Bush and Bob Martinez and current Governor Charlie Crist. When McCain himself arrived, he rattled off a litany of proposals tailored to the audience. He pledged his support for a referendum on Puerto Rican statehood. He eulogized the sacrifice of Latinos who served in the military. And he exalted the "cultural input" and "vitality" of Hispanics across the country. Then he concluded with the bottom line: "We have to win Florida."
CAMPAIGN 2008
Who'll Carry the Purple States?
Jessica Ramirez 5/30/2008 12:00:00 AM
During a conference call this week, Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson pointed to a new Gallup Poll titled, "Hillary Clinton's Swing-State Advantage" as further evidence that Senator Clinton would be the stronger Democratic candidate against Senator John McCain in the general election. "I think the very definition of the process that we're going through suggests that, as a party, we believe that primaries have some bearing on electoral outcomes in general elections and that they are somewhat predictive," he told a group of reporters.
CAMPAIGN 2008
Obama Battles Back
Michael Hirsh 5/7/2008 12:00:00 AM
Barack Obama's favorite new subject is mathematics. And after his impressive performance Tuesday night—with a blowout win over Hillary Clinton in North Carolina and a squeaker of a loss in Indiana—Obama may have mastered the calculations needed to finally triumph in the Democratic race.
COVER STORY: CAMPAIGN 2008
A Memo to Senator Obama
Evan Thomas
Race is a difficult subject to talk and write about. Although the blogosphere is rarely shy, mainstream journalists often tread lightly for fear of giving offense or indulging in stereotypes. Political candidates sometimes slyly play the race card, but rarely overtly. Not eager to call attention to race as an issue, the Obama campaign plays it down as a factor in the election. But if an Obama adviser were writing an honest memo to the candidate, here's how it might read: