Kerry campaign cranking up in Florida

Some Democrats worry that the state hasn't been emphasized enough, as the Bush effort is in full swing.

John Kerry's presidential campaign is planting its first round of paid staffers in Florida - and it's about time, say some anxious Kerry supporters.

The first wave of Kerry campaign field organizers start arriving this week. By month's end at least 10 people will be spread across the state organizing volunteers and mobilizing voters. Top Kerry campaign officials for Florida are expected to be named soon.

The timing puts Kerry's Florida campaign months ahead of Al Gore's 2000 Florida campaign, and it should help alleviate nagging doubts some Florida Democrats have about Kerry's commitment to contesting the Sunshine State.

But, as many Democrats have been grumbling lately, Gore did not face a sitting president whose campaign at this point had already ramped up an unprecedented grass roots Florida organization.

The Bush-Cheney campaign for months has had seven - soon to be eight - field staffers scattered across the state, and five more campaign workers based in Tallahassee. All 67 counties have a Bush-Cheney campaign chair and most have full steering committees actively working. The national campaign headquarters in Virginia reviews weekly field reports from throughout Florida.

"They need to stop wasting time and build it if they're going to build it," veteran Democratic strategist Jim Krog said of Kerry's Florida organization. "Bush-Cheney's been going for months. It tells me they're still not sure if Florida's going to be a target state for them."

How closely Florida will be contested won't be clear until at least late August. That's when the campaigns will study polls to assess where to spend their candidates' time and money.

Early indicators, though, suggest another neck-and-neck race. Florida's 27 electoral votes are must-win for President Bush, who has visited the state 21 times and is blanketing the state with TV ads criticizing Kerry.

Likewise, the Massachusetts senator and presumptive Democratic nominee is airing ads in every Florida TV market. He has visited Florida three times since March, including a three-day swing through the state last month.

Polls point to a tight and potentially seesawing Florida contest: In early March, a St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald poll found Kerry leading by 6 points in Florida. A Mason-Dixon poll in early April showed Bush leading by 8. An American Research Group poll in late April showed a dead heat.

"Florida is a Tier 1 state for us," said Marcus Jadotte, a Floridian who is Kerry's deputy campaign manager and served as Gore's Florida director in 2000. "We are going to, and have, committed as much or more resources to John Kerry contesting Florida as any other state."

For at least a year, Kerry has had paid finance staffers in Florida, helping raise money. But without a meaningful presidential primary in Florida, his campaign did little to establish a grass roots organization. Other battleground states are also just starting to get paid staffers.

Especially since Kerry clinched the nomination in March, Florida party activists have been clamoring to get involved. But there has been little to do in a campaign that barely existed.

Two unpaid organizers, Joan Joseph in Palm Beach County and Lauren Hallahan in Pinellas County, have been working full-time to mobilize supporters. Joseph said the campaign has 57 volunteer coordinators in place and more than 10,000 volunteers signed up.

Still, she acknowledged the lack of a full-fledged organization makes it tougher to keep supporters excited and involved.

"It needs to be more centralized. There needs to be a power structure," said Joseph. " "Is it true the Kerry campaign doesn't feel Florida's important?' Every day I get asked that, especially by elected (officials)," she said.

The Kerry campaign has one huge advantage over Gore's 2000 Florida campaign. Campaign finance restrictions have spawned a slew of well-funded independent Democratic groups focused on Florida more than any other state. Some 150 paid staffers with various groups are registering and mobilizing voters across the state, and that number is expected to continue growing steadily.

Another big difference from 2000: Republicans have embraced grass roots organizing like never before. Months ago they started assembling a massive statewide campaign network. They dramatically demonstrated their early success in March when Bush-Cheney volunteers helped fill the Orange County Convention Center with more than 10,000 people for a rally with President Bush.

The president's re-election campaign has phone banks operating in 40 counties, and more than 28,000 Florida volunteers, making Florida second only to California in volunteers.

"This is a strategy: Take what you've got and multiply it four- or five-fold by November, and you've got the largest army ever assembled for a presidential campaign," said Brett Doster, the Florida campaign manager for Bush.

Indirectly helping boost Republican turnout for Bush is the state GOP, which has 14 field organizers scattered across Florida, roughly the number of full-time employees the state Democratic Party has in Tallahassee.

Jadotte of the Kerry campaign said he's not worried by the Republican head start.

"John Kerry's going to rely both on paid staff and the tens of thousands of volunteers who have already signed up in Florida," he said. "We'll outwork them."

- Adam C. Smith can be reached at 727 893-8241 or adam@sptimes.com

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