GOP hopefuls hustle to win Florida support

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (MCT) — Descending on Florida, the fractured field of Republican presidential candidates on Monday began an eight-day blitz through the state, complete with TV ads in two languages and a slew of personal appearances aimed at winning over a multicultural swing state and the most important prize to date on the GOP presidential trail.

South Florida will be the background for much of the action, with candidates making stops today at Jewish clubs and delis, airing ads on Spanish-language stations and gearing up for a high-stakes, nationally televised debate Thursday night at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona returned to South Florida on Monday for the first time since his once-floundering campaign found new footing with victories in New Hampshire and Saturday's South Carolina primary.

But Florida's closed primary — the nation's first open only to registered Republicans — could hurt McCain, who is popular among independents and counted on their support in his early primary wins.

Today, two rivals looking to derail McCain, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, are stumping in vote-rich South Florida. Highlighting the importance of even a relatively small Republican primary constituency such as Jewish voters, Romney is courting the Republican Jewish Coalition in Boca Raton. Giuliani planned a stop in Palm Beach Gardens.

The candidates are eagerly catering to local concerns, with candidates taking trips through the Space Coast and the Everglades and pitching solutions to hurricane-fueled property insurance rate increases.

"There's a good portion of the population that hasn't focused that closely on the election," said FAU political science professor Kevin Wagner. "Those late deciders are important. In a four-way race, that can matter — when smaller percentages of voters can really shift the balance."

On the Democratic side, the candidates still aren't campaigning in Florida since the state broke party rules by adopting its early primary date. However, Barack Obama began airing a national ad Monday on CNN and MSNBC that is appearing in Florida — a move Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign called a "clear and blatant violation" of the pledge not to campaign here.