Florida Clout Already Being Felt in Run-Up to 2012

The 2012 presidential campaign promises to do wonders for tourism in Florida — at least as candidate book increasing numbers of political tours through the Sunshine State. And The Hill suggests the reason, advancing the argument that President Barack Obama’s re-election pivots on carrying Florida.

In 2008, Obama won nine states that former President George W. Bush had captured in 2004, The Hill notes, adding this observation: “If Obama loses eight of those battlegrounds and holds Florida — and the other states remain unchanged — he will secure another four years in the Oval Office.”

Obama visited Florida for the third time last week, with GOP front-runner Mitt Romney on his heels. And the fact that the state’s unemployment rate of 10.6 percent is more than a percentage above the national rate, is one of the main reasons, The Hill reports.

“President Obama has had over two years [in office] and the economy is continuing to shrink,” The Hill quotes Trey Stapleton, the Florida Republican Party’s communications director, as saying. “We’ve just had a lot of rhetoric on this issue.”

Countering that statement is Stapleton’s Democratic counterpart, Eric Jotkoff, whom The Hill quotes as saying: “I think Floridians recognize that President Obama has done everything in his power to jump-start the economy. His policies have stabilized our economy and jobs are being created.”

So the battle lines are drawn in a battleground state.