Obama won, but Florida did not turn blue!!!

[FreeJG]

Has anyone noticed?

Florida did not change at all, outside of the Feeney/Kosmos arrangement.

Not on any level in powerful counties and cities, the state leg, etc.

Anyone notice???????????????????

[Mojorabbit]

1. Orange county blued up nicely

Got rid of Keller, voted in a dem sherrif. Not too shabby of a start.

[seasat]

2. Our biggest hurdle is the Repub gerrymandering in Florida.

The districts are set up in favor of keeping Repubs in office in Florida. They did it during the last census. Go look at some of the weird district shapes they set up to hold on to power. We either need to figure out a way to defeat them in these fixed districts or pass a constitutional amendment in 2010 that requires a independent standard for setting up congressional districts. The Florida Supreme court is reviewing such a proposed amendment to see if it can qualify to go on the ballot.

It would be difficult to get passed but I would love to see a federal amendment passed that requires an objective standard for redistricting.

[peruban]

6. That's a great point.

The current redistricting is entirely weighted in republican favor, it's the only way they can win, really. If things were different according to geography the pugs couldn't keep their power.

Oh, wait, didn't that already happen?

[kdmorris]

3. I noticed

My county has always been blue (Palm Beach County), so it was no surprise that Obama won here 63-37 (can't remember exact figures). What shocked me was that 51% of my county ALSO voted to "protect marriage as between a man and a woman" and basically also outlaw any recognition of anything that looks like a marriage (no marriage, no civil unions).

I was a little shocked by that. I thought that Amendment 2 would be defeated. I really did and I was laughing gleefully at how well the Republicans had boxed themselves in by getting everyone to agree to force 60% of us to approve constitutional amendments in 2004 (or 2006).

As long as 62% of us are able to vote down marriage equality, it's still a red state.

[2Design]

4. yes I noticed it is still really red and they voted yes on admend 2

the haters and discriminators still live here

[peruban]

5. I don't know.

The difference between presidential votes counted nationally was 204,577, almost a quarter of a million people. Rural counties went for McBain, the larger city counties however, the winning counties, averaged an 18.6% lead for Obama here in Florida.

Now this is what vexes me: If so many people voted for Obama, why such success for Florida Amendment 2: Ban on Gay Marriage? Why do need need a state amendment to tell us how we can marry?

The presidential election passed with 8,481,030 more national votes. Florida passed with 1,842,049 - meaning a 24% state wide difference.

Ponder this: every county in FL, all of them including Dade, Broward, Hillsborough - long considered "librul" territories voted against the band. The only county who voted against it is Monroe county, which includes the Keys. What astounds me is that they defend "institution of marriage", let's be frank - it's a ban on same sex marriage. We live in society where you can't get marriage a certificate if you want to spend the rest of your days with the person you care for.

Now here's a snag for me, if I look at the objective point of view, I sure as hell wouldn't want some government telling me and my church that I can't marry because of a gender issue.

When you ask a "Christian", try it sometime, and debate the issue they claim that it's slippery slope and that the law is necessary because it would lead to people marrying animals. Yes, that's right, gay marriage leads to bestiality according to the fundies. Oh, yeah, and that Adam and Steve quip you always hear.

I apologize for being aggressive, it's just that this amendment has me all worked up.