From Yellow Dog Democrats to Red State Republicans: Florida and Its Politics since 1940

9. The Politics of the Twenty-First Century

214 9 The Politics of the Twenty-First Century The drama of the presidential election temporarily overshadowed other momentous political developments in Florida. For the first time in state history, Floridians had fully embraced the Republican Party, helping to elect a Republican president alongside a Republican governor, a Republican cabinet, Republican majorities in both houses of the state legislature , and a Republican congressional delegation. The party enjoyed such a huge majority in the House of Representatives that Democrats had little voice in committee deliberations or in drafting legislation. The state Democratic Party had not experienced anything like it previously , and it was unclear when the party would be positioned to challenge the Republican Party again. Ironically, as the nation remained transfixed by the 2000 election, Bill Clinton and Jeb Bush met with the press at the White House to sign the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. The proposed public The Politics of the Twenty-First Century · 215 works project would be the largest ever undertaken by the nation. The legislation, passed unanimously by the Florida Legislature and overwhelmingly by Congress, was a remarkable political feat, considering that longtime enemies, from developers to environmentalists to sugarcane growers, had formed a coalition to support it. That political foes Clinton and Jeb Bush should appear together as leaders of this environmental reform effort said a great deal about Bush’s political maturation and his recognition that Republicans could broaden their political base in Florida if they were seen as responsible stewards of the state’s fragile environment.1 The 2002 Gubernatorial Election In 2002, Jeb Bush ran for reelection with widespread public support and the full backing of his party. The election of his brother as president gave Jeb a prominence that no state Republican or Democrat had enjoyed previously. The attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon by al-Qaeda terrorists on September 11, 2001, rallied the nation behind President Bush, and Jeb’s familial and political relationship with the president further bolstered his political standing. Jeb was also well regarded by many in Republican circles as a leading spokesperson for the national neoconservative movement. His political achievements were often featured as examples of how to reduce the size and scope of state government. The family name alone gave him enormous stature; after all, who else had two immediate relatives elected president of the United States? But Jeb Bush was a political force in his own right. The 2002 gubernatorial election highlighted the popularity of Jeb Bush and his policies in Florida, while also signaling the declining fortunes of the Democratic Party. Many urban and suburban residents, as well as Cubans and an increasing number of recent retirees, prized the governor’s efforts to control state spending, champion tax holidays , combat crime through mandatory prison sentences, and eliminate state bureaucratic waste and inefficiency. Those who had moved to Florida from such high-tax states as Minnesota, Michigan, Massachusetts , New Jersey, and New York welcomed Bush’s opposition to new taxes and his advocacy of smaller, less costly, and more efficient government. They were joined by native whites who also valued low 216 · From Yellow Dog Democrats to Red State Republicans taxes and had historically resented intrusive government. Through the force of his personality and political leadership, Jeb Bush, much like Ronald Reagan, brought these voters together in a powerful statewide coalition.2 Democrats would have been wise to avoid an intraparty squabble in selecting a candidate to challenge Bush. But such was not the case. Bill McBride, almost unknown in state political circles, opposed Janet Reno, former attorney general of the United States in the Clinton administration, for the nomination. Although a native of Florida, Reno had been away from the state for a long time, and she carried considerable political baggage from her days in the Clinton administration . Some Clinton loyalists, in fact, blamed her for the appointment of Kenneth Starr as special counsel to investigate the president in the Monica Lewinsky matter, while Republicans felt that she failed the nation as attorney general by not pursuing an indictment against the president. And most Cubans actively despised her for making the decision to seize Elian Gonzalez from the home of relatives in Miami and returning him to his father in Cuba. Republicans secretly wanted Reno to get the nomination so the election would pit the Bush forces against the Clinton camp. But that was not to be the...