Money that used to flow into the state during presidential elections has all but stopped, another indication that Florida's time as a major swing state is no more.
We need to treat every state as a battleground state
Presidential campaigns cost over a billion dollars these days, if that's not enough to campaign in 50 states, where the fuck is all that money even going.
A billion dollars is an insane amount, I legitimately don't understand how either party can claim with a straight face they need or even use close to that much
The main reason Texas is not "in play" it's because everyone assumes it can't be "in play". Over 5 million registered Texans did not vote in 2020! Among them there is definitely 700k Democratic votes and that would be a landslide win for Harris.
Except when Obama carried the state to the point they even got a Dem governor...
Then we started running moderates again for president, they got Pence who caused an HIV epidemic and then the whole country had to deal with him as VP.
The problem is what "red states" need to turn blue isn't what the DNC is willing to give.
Considering the "victory fund" nonsense effectively raised the per person cap to 960k this year. Just imagine how much good the taxes on it would have done if we actually fucking taxed the wealthy.
Then realize those donations is why we'll never tax the wealthy.
Politicians cut out the middle men and just collect it directly like the Catholics and Mormons do, get that 10% pre tax income...
Campaigning in all 50 states and treating all of them as battleground states are not the same thing. The latter is harder and more expensive.
As to why a billion is not enough, blame the SC for allowing Citizens United in 2010. After that the amount of money just got higher without end in this crazy arms race.
Not too much though. Florida makes a great breaker for those hurricanes. Get rid of most of it or make it all swamp, you'll have more storms into the core areas.
We may get that anyway with stronger storms, Florida or no Florida...
Florida has historically been held up as a massively important state for any White House aspirant, and as a result has been on the receiving end of large candidate rallies, surrogate events and huge sums of national money fueling wall-to-wall campaign ads across the state’s 10 expensive media markets. But for the first time in recent political memory, the 2024 presidential race has left Florida as a comparative afterthought.
If you ever wondered why Florida and Texas have been turned into such conservative hellholes, this is exactly why. Both were starting to turn bluer, and the Republicans didn't want to lose those precious electoral college votes.
Aww, poor Ronnie looks so sad. He was gonna be president. It was gonna be so great. He’d eat pudding with his fingers at every press conference. At the state of the union, he’d add a banana. And now that’s all been lost. No charisma. No personality. No hope for becoming president. Poor little guy in his ridiculous lifts is so dejected.
What bothers me is Texas isn't exactly far ahead of Florida in what they teach kids and they also have massive influence on what books schools across the nation end up using.
Floridians are just as intelligent and prone to moments of stupidity as the rest of the country. They just seem like exceptional idiots because of Florida’s Sunshine Laws, which publicize ridiculous, headline-grabbing incidents. Now, reporters actively search for funny/outrageous Florida stories, and the process feeds itself. The Sunshine Laws are responsible for most of the Florida Man jokes you’ve seen.
No, I’m not a publicly agent for the state of Florida. Actually, I think it would be a terrible place to live. They’re not idiots, though.
Relativism won’t save Florida. I’ve spent plenty of time there and have even travelled fully north to south and south to north. I’ve also lived in Louisiana and spent time in all parts of Texas and Mississippi. Florida really is on a different level.
Florida isn't worth the time to be a swing state. They don't listen to facts and get more conservative every chance they can. Spending time campaigning in FL for democrats is simply a waste. May as well campaign at a graveyard.
No but the chance that you change the vote to your side does go away. Florida isn't competitive anymore so not much point in either side spending here.
A lot of republicans have moved here and a lot of democrats have left. Add the fact that the Florida democratic party is a mess even compared to other state parties and I don't see things changing.
Good. I'm a right winger but don't like DeSantis' approach to fighting the culture war, and it doesn't seem like he's done enough to fight the rising cost of living in Florida either.