From the Democratic National Convention, President Obama headed to Florida to take on this notorious swing state of ours.
The election might come down to us, folks.
Florida and Ohio have been key states in recent elections; no Republican has ever won office without winning Ohio, and Florida has the most electoral college votes of the two with 29.
Should we feel special that Obama has spent the past few days touring our state? Or should we feel spoiled because we’re most likely only getting this focused attention because of the nature of our election system?
While here, Obama visited a pizza shop where the owner, Scott Van Duzer, lifted the president off the ground.
Don’t worry, he asked for permission first, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
A Secret Service agent assured that “I was all right as long as I didn’t take him away,” Van Duzer said.
Van Duzer’s shop was chosen because of his work in the community.
“One of the reasons that we wanted to stop by is that Scott has been doing unbelievable work out of this pizza shop in promoting the importance of donating blood,” Obama said. “And so, he has set some records here in Florida. He has received commendations from the White House, the surgeon general, he has galvanized and mobilized the local community and he’s educating kids and folks all across the country on this issue.”
The president even got a little sassy during his campaign’s stop in Kissimmee.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, he started to poke fun at Mitt Romney, and other Republicans, for offering the same tax plan as they have for years: tax cuts for the wealthy.
“Tax cuts when times are good. Tax cuts when times are bad. Tax cuts to lose a few pounds. Tax cuts to improve your love life,” Obama said. “I’ve cut taxes for folks who need it.”
It seems as if Obama is connecting, or at least trying to connect, with the middle-class families and the minority vote in Florida; he even connected with Gainesville and football fans by doing a couple of “Gator chomps.”
But while Obama’s tour of Florida seems to help him get his point across, Romney’s message is stalled on the tarmac.
We love when reality creates metaphors for us.
On Saturday night, the plane that carries Romney, his staff and the loyal-yet-exhausted press corps to and fro broke down.
To pass the time, reporters took to Twitter to complain hilariously with tweets like these posts from Bonney Kapp, a reporter with CBS News: “Romney charter turned power off+on twice now. reax in press section: that’s what I do with my computer when it isn’t working” and “Romney charter shuts down power for 3rd time bf takeoff. ‘Control Alt Delete,’ someone in press cabin says. #stillinRichmond.”
The plane eventually reached Massachusetts safely.
Guess the robot apple doesn’t fall far from the metaphor tree. Not even Romney’s “Believe In America” plane did well this weekend.
