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FORT LAUDERDALE - Seeking to find ways of attracting black Floridians who overwhelmingly voted against his brother four years ago, Gov. Jeb Bush on Saturday kicked off a campaign that aims to bridge the traditionally wide gap between Republicans and minority voters.
He urged a roomful of about 200 campaign volunteers - most of them black - to help deliver a bigger slice of the minority vote to President Bush, who collected only 1 out of every 11 votes cast by blacks in the election of 2000.
"The president understands that you all making decisions for yourselves and your families is far better than raising taxes, which is what John Kerry wants to do and make sure that government makes choices for you," Gov. Bush said. "I believe our philosophy is one that will be appreciated come November."
Democrats said the Republican mobilization effort in the black community won't go far enough.
U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, said in a conference call that "there's no mystery" surrounding the lack of support President Bush has with black voters in the Sunshine State.
"It is unconscionable for anyone to feel that having a meeting and then hopefully putting some signs out in the African-American community and having a couple of round-table discussions is going to resolve some of the issues and the setbacks that have taken place over the last three and a half years," Meek said.
Florida's population has grown by about 1-million over the last four years, and a large bloc of those new residents are blacks who traditionally back Democrats. President Bush's 9 percent support from the black community in 2000 was the smallest by a Republican presidential candidate since 1964.
"We weren't mobilized for the last election like we are now," said Dorsey Miller, founder of the Florida Black Republican Council. "There's 63,000 black Republicans in Florida. There's 144,000 black independents. We're going to be working very hard to turn out our base. We didn't do a very good job of that last time."
Florida's Democrats have said they expect Kerry to carry another majority of the state's black vote, knowing the state and its 27 electoral votes could again decide who wins the White House. "I'm not worried about anybody going to the polls voting for a Bush," said U.S. Rep. Corinne Brown, D-Jacksonville. "Not the people I represent."