The Battle of Florida
Clinton Brings Message of Hope, Prosperity:
Help Is On the Way, Floridians!!
Bush, a "Weak Force", Brings Division, Deception:
Whoa, Li'l Brother's In Big Trouble!

The neck-and-neck Florida gubernatorial race had turned into a knock-down, drag 'em out on this final campaign weekend, featuring Bill "Big Dog" Clinton against George W. "Shrub" Bush campaigning in the state at the same time.

Clinton enters the fray tanned, rested, and ready, his power to stir Democrats and Independents undiminished from the days when he was the last elected U.S. President.

"Big Dog" is expected to draw especially enthusiastic crowds for Democratic candidate Bill McBride among black voters, whom the Florida Republicans are trying their best to intimidate and bar from the polls.

Bush, visibly irritated and testy in the face of the exploding Harvey Pitt scandal and growing Democratic momentum nationally, finds himself having to stump in a desperate bid to prop up his brother Jeb, who was supposed to cruise effortlessly to victory thanks to his crony connections and huge campaign war chest.

Whether Bush will have any effect, let alone any good effect, in helping his brother is doubtful. As he has campaigned virtually non-stop over the past two weeks, Bush has turned out to be what the respected Ipsos-Reid/Cook Political Report calls "a weak force", who has done little or no good in improving Republicans' standing with the voters - and may even be doing more to rile up Democrats and Independents against the Republicans.

While Clinton and Bush duke it out, the McBride and Bush campaigns have turned to what they do best - McBride to telling Florida voters the plain truth about Jeb's lies, and Bush to pursuing furiously his dirty campaign to intimidate voters and suppress the opposition.

Among the many vile Jeb lies about which McBride is now reminding Florida voters:

Meanwhile, in Miami-Dade county, Democrats have temporarily foiled a sneak-attack scheme by a beneath-the-radar GOP Political Action Committee to pack the polling places with menacing Republican "poll watchers" all set to disrupt the election.

A Florida judge has ruled that the attack operation in question, called the Emergency Committee to Stop Bill Mc Bride, is "going to be gone" the day after the election - so there'd be no way to hold it responsible if its members disrupt the balloting.

Which is exactly what the Republicans are planning to do anyway, by hook or by crook - especially in heavily black voting districts.

Few Florida political experts believe that a mere court order will keep the Republicans in line, and are warning voters to be on the alert for other GOP efforts to intimidate voters and, if necessary, steal the election.