Welcome to Florida!

For the first time in the race for the Republican nomination for president, all of the leading contenders will put pedal to metal in an effort to win the same state. Rudy Giuliani by-passed Iowa and New Hampshire. Mitt Romney skipped South Carolina. John McCain, Mike Huckabee, and Giuliani forewent Wyoming and Nevada. Fred Thompson? His grand "strategy" of hanging back until South Carolina ranks among the worst tactical performances in campaign history. If Rudy loses in Florida, however, he may take that mantle from Fred.

But what's done is done. Hope springs eternal in the Sunshine State. And each of the GOP contenders has reason to feel hopeful about winning Florida. Here those delicate butterfly ballots have been replaced with temperamental touch-screens, so you still never really know who might win an electoral contest.
The poll of polls (do we believe those again after Nevada?) shows McCain up by an average of 2.9% in Florida. Then it's Giuliani, Romney and Huckabee following close behind. It'll be eight crazy nights until January 29th. Bring on the "tough on Cuba" speeches! Tell us how you'll save Social Security and Medicare while reforming them! Mind the anti-immigrant talk, however, unless you're way up in the heavily white and conservative northern part of the state. Certainly don't make the mistake of suggesting that we should consider drilling for oil in the everglades. Fred Thompson tried that. Apparently he hadn't been briefed that Florida's Governor, Charlie Crist, happens to be an environmentalist.

By and large, if you're hoping to win Florida, keep talking about how you plan to save the economy. In specific, tell us what you plan to do to improve the outlook for housing. That's the big issue. Here we've ridden the tasty real estate wave for years, and are now smarting from the crash. We may not pay state income tax here, but we do pay our share of property tax, especially after the value of our homes skyrocketted over the past five years. The big issue on the ballot for most Republicans isn't which candidate to select, it's whether to vote yes or no on an amendment to reconfigure our property tax laws.

So let the robocalls begin. Florida is anyone's ballgame, and the last momentum gauge before Super Tuesday.