Election Day
Today I decided to kill two birds with one stone and visit Precinct 583 so I can vote as well as get some insight on this election in Hillsborough County. The voter turnout this election is significantly less than 2008 but most of the blame is on the rain. According to the Tampa Tribune today Hillsborough County residents counted for 77,360 early votes for this years’ election, but this isn’t nearly as much as the figures from 2008. Although the weather has deterred some Hillsborough county residents, Precinct 583 was filled with people waiting to express their opinions on the 2010 ballot. The three-way race for the Senate seat has been long and uncertain, but from the feedback I received today at the Lake Forest Clubhouse (Precinct 583) Republican Marco Rubio seems to be taking the lead.
“Rubio’s got all of Miami. There’s no competing with the support he has down south. I mean, I hope he gets it because I think he’ll make big strides in putting back together our economy.” Says Hillsborough resident Doralee Ruttell.
Projections for this years’ election say that Rubio was in the lead even before Crist made his party change and as of now nothing has changed. As for Meek, he is still in a distant third and from what I gathered at the voting polls this morning it wasn’t looking to promising for this candidate running for Senate.
“Well Meek has a bunch of great endorsements, I saw him when Al Gore came to speak here in Tampa and it was pretty impressive, but I don’t think that’s gonna be enough.” Says another Hillsborough county resident.
I personally don’t think Crist has a chance at all. He’s been very “wavering” throughout this election and I think bouncing back from that is going to be his most difficult task. One of the residents I interviewed quoted Al Gore when this ex-Vice President spoke here in Tampa for Kendrick Meeks campaign referring to Charlie Crist…
“Well I’m not going to say any names, but correct me if I’m mistaken… when a candidate flip-flops and then flop-flips there’s still hope, but never have I seen a candidate flip-flop and then flop-flip, then flip-flop, flop-flap.” Says the Hillsborough resident quoting Al Gore.
This years’ Florida race for Governor has been the most expensive yet and when it comes to giving predictions, I think Alex Sink is taking the lead simply because I heard a lot of negative comments about Rick Scott, some of which came from fellow Republicans.
“Scott has no political experience, while Sink has been the chief financial officer for a few years now.” Says Hillsborough resident Albert Perez.
We’ll just have to wait and see what happens tonight after the polls close at 7pm.