Fox Poll: Scott still underwater by 10 points in voter disapproval rating

The Fox News Poll of Florida voters released tonight not only shows President Obama ahead of Mitt Romney 49-44 percent, and Connie Mack IV trailing Bill Nelson 35-49 percent but it has Gov. Rick Scott with more voters unhappy with his job performance than satisfied with it.

Voters were asked if they "approve or disapprove of the job Rick Scott is doing as governor" and 39 percent said they approve, while 49 percent disapprove. Those numbers are mirrored among Florida's crucial independent voters and those with no college degrees. Floridians with college degrees think he's not measuring up by a margin of 51 percent to 31 percent while independent voters disapprove of him 48-39 percent.

The gap is especially wide among women voters, who disapprove of the governor by a 55 percent to 34 percent margin.

The governor has recently embarked on a new campaign to make education a top priority, a partial reaction to the fact that his signature jobs creation effort has been stalled by the stagnant economy. Voters with school age children also see the governor as performing poorly. Those under age 35 give Scott an approval rating of only 27 percent, compared with 58 percent who disapprove and those between the ages of 35 and 54 disapprove of the governor 52 percent to 40 percent.

The poll of 829 Florida likely voters was conducted Sept. 16-18, 2012 of 829 and including additional an oversample of 77 randomly selected Hispanics. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percent.

So much for plain-old 'redistribution,' 1998 Obama clip shows he also praised 'competition,' 'marketplace'

There's been a lot of talk from Republicans these past 24 hours about how President Obama 14 years ago made comments about how he believes in "redistribution." It was a clip of a speech that surfaced after the liberal Mother Jones magazine got a hold of a May fundraiser video in which Mitt Romney suggests nearly half of taxpayers are moochers.

There wasn't a great amount of an equivalency between the two clips from the start.

Now there's less.

Here's the entire quote from Obama, which was edited out after the "redistribution" line:

"I think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution because I actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level to make sure that everybody's got a shot.  How do we pool resources at the same time as we decentralize delivery systems in ways that both foster competition, can work in the marketplace, and can foster innovation at the local level and can be tailored to particular communities."

More here from NBC

 

Guantanamera, Marco Rubio and the Mitt Romney Miami rally

Despite heavy downpours in west Miami-Dade, hundreds of Mitt Romney supporters showed up at the Miami-Dade Fair and Expo Center to rally behind the Republican ticket -- and to wildly cheer whenever two words were mentioned: Marco Rubio, the native Miamian and Florida senator.

Romney delivered a standard stump speech that touched on job creation, growing small businesses and education.

But he also knew how to play to the local crowd.

Early in the speech, Romney aligned himself and the Republican party with Hispanic voters.

"This is the party of Sen. Marco Rubio," he said. "This is the natural home for Hispanic-Americans. This is the party of hope and opportunity."

MoveOn tries to turn Romney's wannabe-Latino joke into TV-ad outrage

MoveOn.org Political Action and PresentePAC say they're putting this ad up on Florida TV (it's in English below but also runs in Spanish) that plays off Romney's Boca Raton quip that he wished he were Hispanic so he could do better in the election.

The Spanish version of the ad will air on Spanish-language TV in Florida, Colorado, and Nevada, the groups said. It begins airing Thursday and will run in Las Vegas, Denver, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa. "We’re not laughing, Gov. Romney," a Latina woman (and Move On member) says in the ad. "Because regardless of race a presidential candidate who has such contempt for Latinos would never deserve our support."

What they don't mention: Romney's joke started with Spanish-language TV personality Jorge Ramos, who in January playfully asked Romney if he could be considered Mexican-American because Romney's father was born in Mexico. More here on that.

Romney: I'm the candidate "to help the 100 percent."

Mitt Romney had no time to warm up Wednesday before he was asked onstage in Coral Gables about his hidden-video remarks where he suggested that 47 percent of taxpayers were moochers.

Those taxpayers include veterans, Univision's Jorge Ramos pointed out.

Romney was ready.

“This is a campaign about the 100 percent. And over the last several years, you’ve seen greater and greater divisiveness in this country,” he said at the Gran Encuentro event at the University of Miami, which was broadcast later that evening by the Spanish-language, Doral-based powerhouse network.

“We had hoped to come back together,” Romney said. “But instead you’ve seen us pulled apart. And politics has driven us apart in some respects.”

The Republican presidential candidate never explicitly blamed President Barack Obama by name, but he soon ticked off the troubles of the past four years: 47 million people on food stamps, 23 million people out of work or under-employed, high poverty rates.

Romney said he would do better.

“I have a record,” Romney said. “I’ve demonstrated my capacity to help the 100 percent when I was governor.”

Ear-splitting applause – not the last – rippled through the friendly crowd of Romney supporters gathered at UM's BankUnited Center. The rest of the 35-minute interview with Ramos and co-host Maria Elena Salinas followed suit.

Ramos, Salinas and a few audience members questioned Romney on immigration, education and the economy, though they had little time to delve into specifics.

A comfortable Romney stayed on message, tailoring his remarks at times to the Spanish-speaking audience. The mention of the recently released surreptitious video of the May fundraiser in Boca Raton fell off the agenda from that point on.

Fox FL poll: Obama 49-Romney 44. Sen. Bill Nelson blowing away Mack by 14

A new Florida poll, this one from FOX, looks a lot like all the others as of late, showing President Obama nursing an inside-the-error margin lead over Republican Mitt Romney, 49%-44%.

As with the other polls, Sen. Bill Nelson looks like he’s going to blow out Congressman Connie Mack. Nelson wins 49%-35% – a 14-point margin that mirrors two previous surveys.

Unlike the other surveys, the FOX poll oversampled Hispanic voters and found Obama with a relatively comfortable lead for Obama 58%-37%. That compares to Obama’s exit-poll performance in 2008 of 57%-42% over John McCain.

Obama is still getting clobbered by the white vote, however. White voters back Romney 52%-42% (2008 exit polls: 42%-56%, Obama-McCain).

Obama appears to be winning on the issues. He’s well ahead, except in the most-crucial category: the economy, where he’s tied with Romney.

Protecting Medicare and making sure it’s there for future generations: Obama
54%- Romney 41%.

Handling foreign policy: Obama 52%- Romney 43%

Protecting the U.S. from terrorist attacks: Obama 51% -Romney 42%.

Improving the economy and creating jobs Obama 49%- 46%.

Gov. Scott picks superintendents to tackle schools' red tape

From the Times' Gradebook education blog:

On Tuesday, Gov. Rick Scott said he would appoint superintendents from across Florida to help find ways to reduce paperwork and red tape that hinders teachers as they strive to do their job. Today he announced the task force members. They are:

William Husfelt, Superintendent, Bay County Public School District

Robert Runcie, Superintendent, Broward County Public School District

Douglas Whittaker, Superintendent, Charlotte County Public School District

Wallace Cox, Superintendent, Highlands County Public School District

Barbara Jenkins, Superintendent, Orange County Public School District

Joseph Joyner, Superintendent, St. Johns County Public School District

Margaret Smith, Superintendent, Volusia County Public School District 

The committee is to make its recommendations within 30 days.

Mitt Romney, 'in trouble' with Hispanics, launches outreach at Univision, Miami rally today

Long before he caught heat for suggesting that half of taxpayers are moochers, Mitt Romney knew he was “in trouble” with another segment of the electorate: Hispanics.

Today in Miami, the Republican presidential candidate will have to deal with both issues – his comments about 47 percent of taxpayers and his Hispanic outreach – during a sit-down with Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas, star personalities of Spanish-language TV powerhouse Univision. Romney then holds a “Juntos con Romney” rally later this evening.

Ramos is sure to ask Romney about the newly released hidden video that captured the Republican telling donors at a May fundraiser that 47 percent of taxpayers who pay no federal income taxes were hand-out seekers who will vote for President Obama.

Many of Obama’s voters are minority, with about 57 percent of Hispanics backing him, polls show. Statistics also indicate Hispanics are sending a message to Republicans by prefering to register as Democrats or no party at all instead of the GOP in Florida.

Romney hasn’t backed away from the comments, though he said they were “off the cuff” and “not elegantly stated.” He plans to refocus his message to center around the growth of government and entitlement programs under Obama.

“We have two very different views about America,” Romney told Neil Cavuto, a conservative FOX personality on Tuesday. “The president's view is one of a larger government. There's a tape that just came out today where the president is saying he likes redistribution. I disagree.”

Democrats have accused Romney of hypocrisy by noting he has advocated for two programs that redistribute wealth, Medicare and Social Security.

President Obama and his allies, meanwhile, have made government programs central to their pitch for Hispanic votes.

They’ve also made much of the fact that Romney stands by his call for illegal immigrants to leave the country. He supports Arizona-style immigration laws allowing local police to more easily enforce federal immigration laws. And he opposes the so-called DREAM Act that would give a path to citizenship for to students or military personnel.

Marco Rubio, Reince Priebus spearheading GOP pushback vs. Obama's 'redistribution' remarks

The best defense is a good offense, which NFL fan and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio knows better than anybody. So he's joining up with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus at 4 p.m. for a conference call that highlights GOP concerns with President Barack Obama's more government-centric solutions to problems when compared to Republican Mitt Romney's.

At the heart of the call: 1998 comments from then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama who said he believes in "redistribution" of wealth through government action: “I think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution because I actually believe in redistribution -- at least a certain level -- to make sure that everybody’s got a shot.”

It's a good way to highlight the choice Republicans want voters to make this election. It's also their best shot at better explaining Romney's now-controversial remarks about taxes and entitlements at a Boca Raton fundraiser that were captured on secret video and released this week.

Romney has acknowledged the comments were "off the cuff" and "were not elegantly stated." That's where Rubio, one of the GOP's best speakers comes in. He's also sure to mention Communist Cuba, an important topic for the Republican-leaning Cuban-American electorate, who comprise more than 70 percent of the GOP voting rolls in Miami-Dade, Florida's largest county.

The call and web ad coincidentally fall on the same day Romney is scheduled to be in Miami, where he'll talk to Univision's left-leaning host, Jorge Ramos, and later hold a Hispanic-outreach rally.

Here's the RNC web ad

That if I were Latino, 'I'd have a better shot at winning this' line? Mitt Romney has used it before, in Miami

One of the lines Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney delivered to donors in Boca Raton in May, according to the secretly recorded video Mother Jones released Monday, was this: If I were Latino, Romney said, "I'd have a better shot at winning this."

Here's the lead-up to the line, which has been making the national media rounds:

"My dad, you probably know, was the governor of Michigan and was the head of a car company," Romney said. "But he was born in Mexico, and had he been born of Mexican parents, I'd have a better shot at winning this. But he was unfortunately born to Americans living in Mexico. He lived there for a number of years. And, I mean, I say that jokingly, but it would be helpful to be Latino."

But the line is nothing new. Romney told Univision's Jorge Ramos something similar at a January interview recorded at Miami Dade College's Wolfson campus in downtown Miami. And the audience took it lightly and chuckled.

"Your father was born in Mexico. So the question is, are you a Mexican-American?" Ramos asked. "Could you be the first Hispanic president?"

"I would love to be able to convince people of that, particularly in a Florida primary," Romney said, laughing. "But I think that might be disingenuous on my part, because in my case my dad was in Mexico and I'm proud of my heritage, but he was born of U.S. citizens who were living in Mexico at the time and was not Hispanic -- he never spoke Spanish, nor did his parents. He never spoke Spanish, nor did his parents. So I can't claim that honor."

Later, he added: "I don't think people would think I was being honest with them if I said I was Mexican-American. But I would appreciate it if you'd get that word out."

Here's our Jan. 25 blog post with a transcript of the Ramos interview (headline: "Mitt Romney: I'd love to convince people I'm Latino, 'particularly in a Florida primary'."). Or you can watch it in the video clip after the jump.

And, of course, it's worth repeating: What candidates say in Florida matters.