Florida Showdown
By Beth Reinhard Laura Figueroa and Marc Caputo, The Miami Herald
Aug. 2–ORLANDO — In a sign that the road to the White House runs through Florida, the presidential candidates overlapped in the state Friday for the first time, offering contrasting fixes for the economy while confronting racial issues.
In Orlando, McCain defended his opposition to affirmative action and support for private-school vouchers in front of a mostly black audience at the National Urban League convention.
About 100 miles west, in St. Petersburg, protesters at a racially diverse town-hall meeting held up a banner demanding of Obama, “What about the black community?”
The mild but tense confrontations came one day after McCain’s campaign accused Obama, who will be the first black presidential nominee of a major party, of playing the “race card” in a comment earlier this week. Neither candidate directly addressed the charge in his public appearance.
McCain, though, told reporters at a Panama City event later Friday that Obama’s “comments were clearly with the race card.”
He added: “His campaign retracted those remarks. So let’s move on.”
Obama’s camp issued no retraction. And though both sides said they wanted to focus on the issues, it might be inevitable that race will permeate a campaign that could put the first black man in the White House.
“This is America. Race is always an issue that people will be preoccupied with,” said T. Willard Fair, executive director of the Greater Miami Urban League, after listening to McCain’s speech in Orlando. “We all still make decisions along racial lines.”
The candidates’ presence in Florida comes as the polls show a dead heat in the largest battleground state. In recent weeks, Obama’s campaign has been on a hiring spree and unleashed an advertising blitz to make up for his boycott of the state’s unsanctioned early primary.
At the Urban League convention, hundreds of activists, politicians and executives gave McCain a standing ovation and then listened quietly — a stark contrast with the spirited call-and-response that occurred with earlier speakers.
GLOOMY BACKDROP
The latest national unemployment report, which showed another 51,000 jobs were cut last month, provided a gloomy backdrop for a gathering focused on tackling urban problems. Florida is currently leading the nation in job loss. McCain drew a smattering of applause for touting tax credits to families and bonuses for teachers in troubled schools. He met with a much more energetic crowd in Panama City, where country singer John Rich introduced the Arizona senator with a fiddle-heavy tribute song called Raisin’ McCain.
In St. Petersburg, Obama also met with an enthusiastic crowd of about 1,500 people crammed into a high-school gym. His economic plan includes tax cuts for middle-class workers and seniors, $1,000 “energy rebates” and stimulus packages in states facing budget shortfalls.
McCain faces an uphill battle in the black community, with polls showing Obama as the overwhelming favorite. When McCain spoke to the NAACP last month, he praised Obama as an “impressive fellow . . . who has inspired a great many Americans.”
But on Friday he took a shot at his rival early in his speech, saying, “You’ll hear from my opponent, Sen. Obama, tomorrow, and if there’s one thing he always delivers it’s a great speech. But I hope you’ll listen carefully, because his ideas are not always as impressive as his rhetoric. “
The remark echoed the theme of McCain’s latest ads, which mock Obama as a wannabe messianic figure or as an empty-headed “celebrity” like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.
“They know their ideas are used up,” Obama said in St. Petersburg. “That’s why they spend all their time talking about me.”
Later, in response to a question from one of the black protesters, Obama talked about his efforts in Illinois and as a senator to stop predatory mortgage lending in the black community.
“On each of these issues I have spoken out,” he said. “I just may not have spoken out the way you wanted me to speak out.”
The backbiting between the campaigns hit new heights this week when McCain said he agreed with his campaign manager’s accusation that Obama was playing the “race card.” Obama had said while campaigning in Missouri: ‘What they’re going to try to do is make you scared of me . . . You know, ‘He doesn’t look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills.’ “
‘OVERREACHING’
That’s simply stating the obvious, said several black voters at the Orlando convention.
“Is race a factor in this election? Of course it is,” said Maurice Wilson, who serves as vice president of the Urban League chapter in San Diego.
“I thought McCain’s reaction was overreaching and opportunistic.”
But to some white voters in Panama City, Obama’s comments smacked of race-baiting.
One McCain supporter, Daniel Hirsh, sported a shirt with a homemade print that implored “Don’t Let the USA become an Obama-Nation.”
He said he opposed the Democrat for one major reason: “He’s a racist. Just recently, in his last speech, he played the race card.”
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