Getting on the soapbox on this Sunday morning:

--- A few days ago after the election I mentioned that one probable reason for President Bush's wider-than-projected victory in Florida is that his campaign team chose not to give any ground to the opposing team of John Kerry and John Edwards. While the Democratic nominee focused his attention on the urban metropolitian areas of Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Tampa/St. Petersburg, and Orlando, the Republican incumbant and Vice President Dick Cheney chose to also make stops in smaller cities across the Sunshine State not normally paid attention to by national candidates. Niceville, New Port Richey, Lakeland, Fort Myers, Gainesville, and The Villages were visited by the president or vice president during the latter days of the campaign.

It seems that someone agrees with me. No less than the New York Times made the Republican strategy the focus of a story in today's edition. One item in the story that deserves mention; a bit surprising, but not really when you consider the result:

For example, in the Interstate 4 corridor that runs from Tampa through Orlando and up to Daytona Beach, the Republican National Committee had set a goal in early 2003 of attracting 10,000 volunteers, a target that Republicans in the state saw as ambitious and optimistic. And yet on Election Day, they were surprised to see that more than 25,000 in that region had volunteered to help Mr. Bush win re-election.

To quote Democratic Party's legal team chief in Florida, Mitchell Berger of Fort Lauderdale, "We woke up the beast."

While the Democrats were focusing on avoiding a repeat of 2000 by placing attorneys throughout the state in fear of more election hanky-panky, Bush and Cheney were visiting the out-of-the-way areas to insure their base and undecideds will get out for their side. It worked, and goes to show you that we cannot surrender any part of our state to the other side. The Democratic Party has to reach out to all areas, large and small, rural and urban, and communicate it's message in such a way that is not threatening to people. We simply cannot say, "They're DUMB", and let it go at that. We must attempt to reach those people --- yes, even the social conservatives. It won't be easy, and there are many traditional liberals who will scream and holler that we are "losing our focus" and "not holding to our principles". But if we continue on the course we are on now, we will be relegated to a minor role in national, state, and even local politics.

--- If you want to read an excellent article on what happened and what the Democratic Party needs to do to right it's ship, read this piece from Orlando Sentinel Insight Editor Peter A. Brown.

--- On November 2 eleven states passed ballot items to ban gay marriage. Now the Florida Baptist Convention wants to add Florida to that list. The state's largest denomination is expected to pass a measure at it's annual convention Monday and Tuesday in Jacksonville calling for a constitutional amendment to uphold the "biblical definition" of marriage as between one man and one woman. The thing is, that definition has been law in Florida since 1997, and the statute also bans recoginition of same-sex marriges performed elsewhere. So why put it in the constitution, when the Florida Legislature would not likely change the law in the forseeable future? Simple...to show the religious community's political clout in the aftermath of the 2004 election.

--- Here's an interesting column by the Lakeland Ledger Associate Editor Lonnie Brown, dealing with the fact that a number of voters picked and choosed the races they filled in the oval on. It happens all the time, and the difference would not have counted a great deal, but one race --- for the Board of County Commissioners District 5 seat --- could possibly have been much closer.

--- Florida has a couple of interesting results Tuesday. Gadsden County finally has an African-American sheriff after a recount, and Highlands County has the first female sheriff elected in a regular election in Florida. There have been other women who have served as their counties' chief law enforcement officer, but they have been widows of sheriffs who died while in office, and one was elected in a special election to fill the unexpired term of her late husband. Congratulations to both ladies.