NewsMax.com
Friday, Oct. 25, 2002

McAuliffe said having a Democrat in the Florida statehouse in time for 2004 will set the stage for his party's takeover of the White House and avenge Al Gore's upset defeat in 2000.

"To have a governor in a state in a presidential year for money, message, mobilization will help us tremendously," McAuliffe revealed to the New York Times.

Meanwhile, the candidates have been engaged in skirmishes of their own.

In a recent debate McBride compared Jeb Bush to a careless "orange picker" who has failed to show the leadership needed to earn a second term as governor.

Bush has fired back, describing McBride as a novice with stale ideas, no plan to pay for them, and a poor grasp of how state government works.

Bush said McBride is a "corporate lawyer" catering to "the union bosses" of the state teachers union who will promise them anything – whatever the cost.

And the cost is huge: $29 billion in extra spending, according to the Bush campaign. McBride's plan to reduce classroom size, for example, would cost $2.5 billion, and McBride's claim that it could be financed by a 50-cent tax on cigarettes falls far short of meeting the price tag. Bush says his opponent would have to raise additional taxes or cut important program budgets.

"Jeb is gone!" is McAuliffe's battle cry. "There won't be anything as devastating to President Bush as his brother's losing in Florida."

McAuliffe launched his latest broadside and revealed his Florida tactics at a recent luncheon with reporters and editors of the New York Times, which reported the spate of political saber rattling.

According to the Times report, McAuliffe was enthusiastic about President Bush's plan to campaign rigorously right up until the election. McAuliffe thinks this is a "strategic" error that will result in focusing attention on economic issues not only in Florida but also around the nation.

Economics, said McAuliffe, represent the strength of his party and will be the key to control of the House.

"We hope George Bush goes to all our highly contested races," McAuliffe said. "Wherever President Bush goes we're on TV before he gets there, while he's there and the day after, every city."

McAuliffe added that his party would foot the bill for rebuttal commercials in each area where President Bush campaigned.

The Democrat chief told the Times that his party would make its most important gains in the governor's races, with the cornerstone of that effort being the upset of Jeb Bush and the Republicans in Florida.

McAuliffe said that recent Florida polls indicated a dead heat between Gov. Bush and McBride. (In fact, most polls show Bush leading by about 5 points.) He indicated that the governor's closeness to his brother in the White House might indeed backfire.

McAuliffe used the example of the president's recent trip to Minnesota, after which Democrat Sen. Paul Wellstone jumped 2 points in the polls.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
DNC
George W. Bush
Presidential Race 2000

Editor's note:
David Horowitz shows "How to Beat the Democrats"
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