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© St. Petersburg Times, published February 24, 2002
CORAL SPRINGS -- There are few places in America these days where bashing President Bush goes over well. Broward County is one of them.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe came to Florida's Democratic mecca Saturday to pump up the party faithful against the Bush brothers. In a red-meat partisan speech, which was eaten up by the crowd of nearly 800, he slammed George and Jeb Bush for ties to Enron, for doing too little to help schools and seniors, and for budget mismanagement.
"There must be something in the home cooking Barbara was whipping up. Because George and Jeb seem to be following the same recipe: fiscal mismanagement, broken promises, allegiance to special interests and neglect of the people's interest," McAuliffe told Democrats at Broward's annual Jefferson-Jackson Day fundraiser.
Saturday night's dinner featured three main Democratic candidates for governor -- state Rep. Lois Frankel, Tampa lawyer Bill McBride and former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno -- and a slew of other politicians eagerly working a hotel ballroom loaded with New York accents.
Broward County, with its concentration of blue-collar retirees from the Northeast, is one of the most reliable Democratic strongholds in the country. It is crucial to any state or federal Democrat trying to win Florida.
McAuliffe clearly didn't see a need to tone down his rhetoric given the president's stratospheric popularity ratings.
McAuliffe briefly mentioned the war on terrorism and declared that everybody in the room was a patriot first and partisan second. Part of that patriotism requires speaking up for Democratic values, he said before declaring that Al Gore won Florida in 2000.
"The Republicans keep saying it's time for us to get over what happened here in November of 2000. Easy to say when your vote has been counted and your voice has been heard. Easy to say when you've benefited from a travesty in which the votes of five Supreme Court justices trumped the votes of 51-million Americans."
He quipped that Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris has decided not to run for Congress after all. "Given her record of impartiality, they're going to make her an Olympic figure skating judge," he shouted to roars from the crowd.
With the president's brother up for re-election in a state crucial to both national parties, McAuliffe's visit highlighted the amount of national attention Florida will receive this year. In April, Democrats positioning for the 2004 presidential nomination will flock to the state party convention in Orlando.
Asked whether the speech signaled a ratcheting up of the Democrats' anti-Bush message, McAuliffe smiled and noted that Bush's budget offered plenty of ammunition.
He bashed the president for dipping into the Social Security Trust Fund and for cutting law enforcement and health insurance while rewarding the wealthy with tax breaks.
McAuliffe is a champion at raising unregulated "soft money" contributions for the Democratic Party, but he hailed the prospect of campaign finance reform.
"It looks like David has finally slain Goliath," he said, predicting that grass roots political organizing like that practiced for years in Broward will again decide elections.