After Florida's 27 electoral votes went to President-elect Barack Obama, contributing to his road to victory, some may wonder how the peninsula turned so blue.
Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson visited UF's Pugh Hall on Wednesday to provide post-election analysis of Tuesday's election and speak on Florida's role in the results.
Nelson said Obama's Florida victory was a combination of sweeping strategic counties, extensive ground operations, wise spending and an overlay of TV advertisements.
Nelson combed through the counties' individual results, saying he advised Obama to concentrate on the state's Interstate 4 corridor and the northeast triangle created by Jacksonville, Tallahassee and Gainesville.
Obama nailed "a huge swath" of Central Florida, including Orlando and Tampa, which provides 45 percent of Florida's general election turnout, he said.
He pointed to the Democratic ticket's strategic surge of speeches across the state, which included a horse pasture in Ocala and a Miami hockey stadium.
A shifting mind-set among voters, such as Cuban Americans in Miami, also helped swing the state in Obama's favor, he said.
"What you're seeing is a split along generational lines," Nelson said.
Nelson also spoke of the decisive gain by Democrats in the U.S. Senate, saying the increased representation would not widen the partisan divide because Americans want party squabbling to stop.
Even if the 60 seats needed to make the Senate filibuster-proof are nabbed by the party, the Democrats are not an exclusive group, Nelson said. Filibuster is a political strategy where a politician gives an extremely long speech to delay voting on an issue.
However, Nelson said there are bipartisan ways to prevent filibuster.
"You can always go and find a couple of reasonable, moderate Republicans to help you shut off the debate," he said.
Nelson said he could not choose which issue would take top priority once Obama takes office Jan. 20 because the results of the Bush administration's $700 billion bailout remain to be seen.
He stressed the need to tackle multiple issues once entering the White House, adding that Obama should appoint secretaries of state, defense and treasury soon to make the transition visible.
Nelson noted Obama's change in demeanor when he took the stage at Grant Park in Chicago as president-elect.
"It wasn't the rah-rah attitude of the campaign anymore," he said. "It was like the weight of the presidency had suddenly borne down on his shoulders."
