Turnout: 46.4%

Per the division of elections, it's official: Florida turnout blew Tuesday. Fewer than 5-million voters - 46.4 % - cast their ballots for the first open governor's race in eight years.  That's the worst showing since 1958.

Comments

This is priceless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZlBeCASuQ0&eurl=

It's possibly the stupidest video ever...what a waste of 2 minutes

How was the turnout in Pinellas/Hillsborough in comparison ?
seeing that we had two hometowners running ?

Hi 10:42,

Pinellas County had 47.6% turnout (39th of the 67 counties), Hillsborough had 45.3% (51st). Leon County had the highest turnout in the state with 63.4%.

isnt that pretty amazing considering one would think that davis & crist would increase the turnout avg even a little bit in tampa bay ?
hmm.
maybe they got turned off by the bitter fight between Frische & Valentine.

I have only lived here for 2 years, but Florida is so overrated. Its no better than any other state.

all this hyper-negative stuff is really turning off a portion of the electorate.

Yes, negative campaigns don't work. People are tired of them.

TP

[Will]

12:09

I have lived here for 2 years, and i believe this state kicks the crap out of IN, MI, OH, IL, WI, IA, MO, LA, or even KY. I am certain that if i lived or visited or knew many people in many other states, I would think FL kicks their butt too.

All I have to say is beaches, ocean, gulf, no income tax, not a high cost of living, theme parks, and on and on.

Amen 12:30/ Davis went nasty and was shown the door by the voters. Skippy Campbell did the same and same result.

That’s the funniest damn video I’ve seen in a long while., although the Santorum picture kind of turned me on. Does that mean I’m as gay as Florida’s new governor?

At www.LeonDems.com there's an Excel file that ranks historical turnout by county (plus other things).

[jaguar]

46% for Florida is above the national average for a midterm election. Clearly the number of negative ads across the state dampened voter turnout.
I hope the 2008 presidential campaign is more positive.

[terminator]

46% is pretty pathetic anyway you dice it.

But hey, that's life in "Floriduh"!

Is it any wonder we're dead last in education (side by side with Mississippi)?

Will's attitude pretty much summed things up regarding life in the Sunshine State (eat, drink and be merry) but by god don't think too much.

I'll bet a much higher percentage of Floridians 18 or older made sure not to miss Inside Edition or Dancing With the Stars last night.

We would have made great Romans (party hearty dudes)! Just hope the Republic holds up a few more years.

Heard Davis and Skippy tuned into Biggest Loser last night - they thought it was a recap of their camoaigns.

Terminalhater, give it a rest dude. We'll be hearing the "we're dead last" BS refrain soon enough from the back rows of the House. take a break.

46%? Bet you wish that high a percentage of teachers would join the union, Termie.

[3kidsCatholic]

All of you dumocrats in Florida are so LAZY!

You couldn't campaign your way out of Jim Davis's CHAIR!

Why were you all stuck inside Davis's campaign office, at your keyboards blogging all day and night?

Where could you have done better in FLORIDA?

How could you be such a lame group of campaigners in such a NATION-wide Dumocrate WAVE? What are you all proud of this election cycle in FLORIDA?

You all should be ashamed of yourselves!

I know 70 year old grandfathers, who are dumocrats, worked harder than all of you 20 and 30 somethings!

No signs, no advertising, no internet ads, no creativity, no passion, no candidates, no GOTV Vans, no preachers, no minority or youth votes either....very pathetic.

Sometimes there are too many cheifs and people masquerading as consultants, and not enough volunteers and regular grunts.

Somebody needs to get out there and sweat, on the corners with sign waiving, staying up all night putting out signs, stuff envelopes, and try to make as many voter contact calls as humanly possible.

The Hillsborough County Republican Party and the RPOF KNOWS this and DID this, that's why we stomped Davis in Hillsborough, Davis's home, and throughout the state except for a few counties, and Miami/Dade. We knew we would lose there...and almost nowhere else.

You all better go back to being waiters and graphic designers...there is no political future for you here in sunny Florida.

Guess that's why Davis had so many imported workers at his office on HIMES!

Where are they all now? On planes. Going back to places where dumocrats actually worked hard and won races.

So tell me catholic, exactly how did you have three kids wearing chastity belt and having that stick up your ass?

[3kidsCatholic]

man, 1:34pm, no wonder all you dems lost in FLORIDA this cycle, you talk like an uneducated, high school drop out, behind on his union dues, jackass, with nothing better to than blog all day and night and jack off looking at the internet.

I got 3 kids the old fashioned way. I met a nice Catholic girl, dated, got engaged, then got married, went on our honeymoon and then my wife got pregnant. Very simple.

Sorry you could get a date in school and now you are alone in some dark hole blogging, ALONE!

Democrats only know how to "turn-out" the lights.

Party's over, Crist won.

I'm not ALONE! get ready for your 4th kid...;-)

[terminator]

1:21
Well you know what they say "if the shoe fits".
Sorry some of you guys (R legislators) may want to run away from the Bush legacy but we're not going to let you forget it.

1:22
Actually, we're over 50% which is part of our problem.
If we had numbers like the cops and firefighters they'd be kissing our behinds like they do them!

Termpaper, you know full well that our education system's failings didn't start with Jeb Bush and he has done the best that could be done to start turning the trends the right way. I know you want to ignore the huge gains that have been made in reading and simply whine about the money (which also has been increasing faster than ever) but seriously, when you act like Jeb has 'harmed' public schools you lose your credibility.

and on the cops and firefighters union thing, what's the big difference you see there? Have they maybe worked WITH Republicans on some issues? Hmmmmm ... what a novel lobbying tactic that is.

[Alpha1]

2:12, Wait a minute here… step back from the bong for a second.

First of all, semantics combined with political correctness is a blast. It’s makes us all look like buffoons at times. I’m not a Jeb supporter, but I understand bureaucracy. The core issue/problem with the education system does in fact start with the $. It started when Martinez scammed Floridians into believing that the lotto would accentuate the funding. We bought it hook, line, and sinker. When the real plan kicked in, our statewide system began a path of “inability to balance a budget with an inconsistent funding source.” It’s not a red thing or a blue thing… it’s pure financial and organizational structure.

Granted, there have been some strides based on FCAT scores. But overall, we have declined. You can take a partisan approach and deny facts based on politics, or take a reality look at it and recognize the core problem and move to correct for the betterment of the whole. Education must be made a priority and assigned a dedicated and stable funding source. Once the uncertainty of a wavering budget is out of the picture, we can focus the resources to have their greatest positive impact.

Notice I did not mention specific numbers, only basic organizational philosophy. We must start there. Otherwise we’re just pissing up a tree.

oh, ok alhpa1, I see. WHat you want is a "stable" funding source. In other words, take that pesky legislature out of the equation and set up a dedicated, guaranteed revenue stream for schools. Maybe set up a mandated yearly increase of 10 or 20 percent too? Get real dude, you're the one too close to the bong. Talk about removing ALL accountability -- puhlease!

[Alpha1]

That is a typical, and might I add - sadly predictable, partisan response. I’d so hope you could dialog on the issue without stooping to the rhetoric. As always, scare the people with the threat of taxes or terrorists. One would think after the 7th, you folks would have learned a lesson.

I could think of much lesser things – and partisan politics such as yours has – than to honor our country and its future by honoring our country and its future.

God Bless, and good luck in prison or Iran – whichever comes first for you and yours.

Florida sucks...New York will always be KING!

I'm sorry Alhpa1, am I wrong? Are you not saying that (at least part of) the answer to our education problems is setting up a guaranteed revenue stream that can't be changed by "politicians"?

That's what I read into what you said - educate me as to where I erred.

Maybe Davis went negative, which he didn't go nearly as negative as Charlie did. but at least Davis took a stand on issues and didn't reinforce the stereotypical image of politicians trying to be all things to all people. Charlie won this race because he never took a stand on anything. he told people what they wanted to hear. As a result, this will be a suspense filled four years as we wait to see just what CHarlie really believes. My guess is that he believes he is straight, but I believe he is wrong!

Well 3:44, my guess is you believe you are smart and know something about politics, but I beleive you are wrong!

[Alpha1]

3:35,

Thank you for returning to dialog with rational. No, my assertion is not to remove legislative controls, rather embody them with commitment based on realistic principles of required and dedicated financial support to a required and essential need. That of course being the education of our youth for the betterment and sustainability of our future as a people and a nation with all economic factors weighed in.

We simply cannot continue to believe that the way to a better education is financial risk and ambiguously motivated structure based on testing. Take China and Japan for example. Indeed, human rights issues, so lets not go there in this discussion… but a dedication to the sustainability of their people, their country and it’s future by absolute dedication to its future; education. We must remove the financial quagmire in order to focus resources and energy. The product must be competitive; the means by which to produce must be functional. The production process must be stable and supported or the end result “product” will be subject to failure.

Alpha1, please forgive my ignorance, but not being a PhD in Education or Economics, can you dumb down what you just said for me a little? How would you propose we "stabilize" the funding for education exactly? Are you saying we would not take the legislature out of it, but automate the funding levels in some fashion? I'm not getting it ...

[Tired of the madness in the RPOF]

Please email Chairman Carol Jean Jordan and personally thank her for her brilliant strategy that help the dems win. Chairman Carol Jean Jordan's e-mail address cjjordan@rpof.org .

Sincerly,
Tired of the madness in the RPOF

[Paul D. Harvill]

What to do?

Ken Mehlman is quitting his post as Republican National Chairman, in the aftermath of his party's disastrous showing in this week's elections. The news also came just a day after Mehlman was outed as gay on CNN's Larry King Live. Maryland Lieutenant Governor and former State GOP Chair Michael Steele -- who lost a run for an open US Senate seat this year -- is already being mentioned as a frontrunner to replace Mehlman.

Posted by: | November 09, 2006 at 04:47 PM

Sorry, I wasn’t trying to impress or anything like that. Had to leave for an important meeting. The de-stabilizing of our education funding started with the lotto. Instead of accentuating the funds, as presented, it was used to replace pulled funding. In this lay the problem. We pulled a fixed funding amount from the budget and, ever since, have tried to replace it with an inconsistent and unpredictable resource.

This makes it impossible to budget beyond the now. Hence, there is no way to forecast and plan long-range with any degree of certainty. It becomes a year-to-year assumption or guess. I don’t believe this is a good way to run an education system. Granted, local boards and administrators share in the entire dilemma do to politics and the lack of “truly” qualified leadership in general.

In my opinion mind you, I think we need to stabilize the funding source by taking the “guess work” out of it. Return to a dedicate base and stable funding source (this is not a new idea, simply a return to what we had before). Restructure the lotto fund distribution to include the original promise, and stop funding vouchers.

If someone wants to send their child to a “Private” school, that it their right to do so, but not our responsibility to fund. We should stop this environment of blaming our teachers rather than our own inability to administer the system. Fix the system, legislate priorities and fundamentals as the system’s core objective, take pride in the system, mandate accountability through leadership not testing, use testing as it was intended (to gage accomplishment, not the distribution of funds), and get on about the business of educating our children with honor. We simply must take “Politics” out of it, not legislation… “Politics”.

[Matt Behnke]

Proud to say I'm from Leon County and turn out was good here. Charlie got 42% of the vote here, the best showing for any Republican gubernatorial candidate in Tallahassee. As for the one person hoping 2008 is more positive, are you serious? The negative ads only get worse and more entrenched each election cycle. The more expensive television ads get the more money gets poured into campaigns, a record $2.6 billion in campaign spending for both political parties combined this year was set!

[Matt Behnke]

If Florida's so bad then why do all the retirees from New York move here?