NC and FL in election

[Donerail]

Florida's been trending well demographically for Democrats over the past few decades; it's the Republican leadership in Tallahassee drawing maps that benefit the Republicans, which they're able to do because the Florida Democratic Party was rather petty during its long reign (pretty much statehood to about Gov. Askew) and made no real preparations for a swing-state Florida. Even now, the FDP is concentrating a good chunk of funding on Liberty, Gilchrist, Baker, Union, Calhoun, Dixie,'Suwanee, Levy, and a good number of other tiny Panhandle counties that I've never heard of (these are the counties that were colored Gingrich on your TV screen during the FL primary, and which contain a lot of Democrats who are such just because their grandfather's grandfathers were, but who vote Republican every single election), to try to help the North Florida Blue Dogs who are in charge of much of the party (Example: Party Chairman (and 2010 LG candidate) Rod Smith said during his campaign something like "We are goin to win Dixie County". He lost by 14%, and if he had won every single vote cast in Dixie, he sill would have lost.). There's a lot of Democratic energy in Florida (Awake The State, Progress Florida, Pink Slip Rick), but the FDP is not really liberal and doesn't concentrate on those Democratic or Democratic-trending areas (Citrus County (Orlando), South Florida, Tampa Bay, Tallahassee). And that's why Florida's the way it is (at least according to this Floridian).

[Donerail]

In Florida's case I think it's pretty simple: Miami. That city has a solid hispanic population that's growing heavily. Like I said in another thread it's not yet a situation where one city or area speaks for the whole state but if the Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas keep growing at their current pace it could get there in the next 20-30 years.

Looking at current growth rates, if St. Pete-Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, and Sarasota-Bradenton keep growing at the rates they're growing, yeah, South Florida'd be a bit bigger than all of em, but Miami is no Cook County, not for another 50+ years (might be a bit biased here, though, as a Tampa Bay-ian).