THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: In the high-octane election-year atmosphere of US politics, and an acrid Republican Party nomination race, Tuesday's Florida primary is being hyped as make-or-break for the party's presidential aspirants.
The relative civility of campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire has long evaporated. And, while the heat rose in South Carolina, the intensity of an advertising war and rhetorical crossfire between the chief contenders, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, has become searing.
Getting a grip on such a big and diverse state is chief among the candidates' many challenges. Florida is not the Tea Party stronghold of South Carolina, and a standard joke is that the further south you travel the more north you get - a reference to number of sun-loving and wealthy retirees from north-eastern states who have moved there.
Still, some things reign universal in America right now - economic torpor, for one. Florida has been hit hard by the financial meltdown, the property crash in particular. Home foreclosure rates continue to exceed the national average, at 12 per cent of sales statewide versus 3.5 per cent. Of the 25 metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates, 17 are in Florida, headed by Miami. Unemployment, at 9.9 per cent, is above the national average.
Mostly, the caustic exchanges between Romney and Gingrich - as well as their TV ads - have centred not on their prescriptions for economic revival but on the men's claims to authenticity.
Romney is the richest man ever to seek the presidency. His business record and private tax affairs are under fierce scrutiny. Gingrich's controversial term as Speaker of the House of Representatives and subsequent years as a Washington consultant, during which he advised the failed government-owned mortgage provider Freddie Mac, has been targeted by opponents. » | Simon Mann | Saturday, January 28, 2012
