FLORIDA SUNDAY EDITORIAL ROUNDUP

In case you've been hiding in a cave or doing the Robinson Crusoe thing on a deserted island, Tuesday is Election Day across our land, and I4J has been keeping up with who the state's major newspapers have recommended in statewide races. To check out the complete list, click here.

But remember that when all is said and done, it's YOUR responsibility to 1) learn about the candidates and their positions on issues that are important to you and to the people of Florida at large, and 2) VOTE on Tuesday, if you didn't take advantage of the Early Voting option or absentee.

Let's see what the editorial pages say today:

One newspaper, the Pensacola News Journal in the Panhandle, waited until the Sunday before Election Day to offer it's recommendation in the governor's race. In the midst of the most conservative area of Florida which has elected Republicans almost solidly in recent elections, the newspaper chooses Congressman Jim Davis, citing what it feels is Davis' focus on policyholders in the insurance debate and Attorney General Charlie Crist's public silence in the Terri Schiavo case.

Several newspapers used it's opinion space today to remind readers of it's election endorsements. Those are the Sarasota Herald Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, Florida Times-Union, Florida Today, Fort Myers News-Press, Gainesville Sun, Naples Daily News, South Florida Sun Sentinel, and Tallahassee Democrat.

The St. Petersburg Times notes that this election season has been disappointing on several levels, but that "campaign sleaze is no excuse for staying home Tuesday. There is too much at stake to let our disgust with the state of politics make us so discouraged that we turn away from our civic responsibility to participate in democracy".

The Ocala Star-Banner reminds it's readers that elections are all local, all the time and about how government affects real people and real lives, even in Marion County.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal fills it's editorial space with an opinion piece from Washington Post columnist David Broder wondering if President Bush ready and willing to deal with a Congress whose makeup is expected to be significantly different after Tuesday's midterm election.

Today's Tampa Tribune opinion deals with the Museum of Science and Industry's effort to display artifacts from the 18th century slave ship Whydah to coincide with the release of Disney's movie Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End next summer. It takes note that a previous effort to build a museum around the Whydah in 1992 brought out deep racial fissures in the Tampa community, and suggests that MOSI not ignore or recast the ship's history --- past or recent --- for extra revenue.

The Fort Pierce Tribune and other TCPalm newspapers is calling on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expidite repairs on the Herbert Hoover Dam at Lake Okeechobee, which some say is in danger of being breached in the case of a Katrina-like hurricane and would threaten the lives of 60,000 people as well as cause irreversable damage to the Everglades.

The Miami Herald does not have an editorial on it's Web page today, and the Lakeland Ledger has not updated it's site from Saturday as of mid-morning.