Sink votes and predicts: North Florida may be the key

Democratic candidate for governor Alex Sink started her day at her Thonotosassa home, 30 minutes outside Tampa, with a house full of friends and family. She stopped to tape one last robo call to encourage people to get out and vote. Sink, her husband, Bill McBride, her son, Bert McBride, Sink's sister, Dottie Sykes, and Dottie's husband, Charlie Sykes, then traveled down their dirt road, past the orange groves and newly-built subdivisions, to the First Baptist Church, five minutes from Sink's home.

"We need good turnout,'' Sink told reporters after she voted. "That's what we're paying attentino to all day today. We have enormous numbers of volunteers on the phones calling people, helping people get ot the polls if that's what they need. I'm just very encouraged."

After the polls close in the western Panhandle, Sink said she'll be paying close attention to the voting results in that region. She said that while she needs a strong turnout in South Florida and the I-4 corridor, "I am particularly going to be looking at the North Florida and more rural counties. I believe Rod Smith and I are picking up a fair number of the more Republican voters in those counties. That could be the difference."

Photos: Sink and husband Bill McBride and son, Bert McBride, after voting. At home in her kitchen with, left to right: Charlie Sykes, Freya Bettison, Dottie Sykes, Alex Sink, Liz Brown.