Tallahassee in Leon County is bright blue as is Gainesville--that's where two major universities are located. Please don't say we are like Alabama cause we aren't!

St. George Island Beach Florida to Mobile Alabama.

Those white quartz beaches are the most beautiful in the world.

Politics are another matter but people vote for whom they believe will make their life better and after 77 years I've come to believe it's just a bitter war between opinions.

Either way, I have dear friends from both Dem and Rep leanings and I know they'll all come to my fair-well party.

I live in FL. It is amazing what I hear people all over this state regarding our President. I have a job that takes me all over FL. I can tell you first hand this place is very Republican.

could change by November 6.

Clearly there are areas that are not but generally speaking NoFL counties will vote like hardcore southern Republicans.

with Florida since 1817 when it was still Spanish, first settlers and all that stuff.

I've watched things get better but that region still retains the basics of rural life with self-sufficiency, pride, and independence.

Those traits may not be compatible with urban/suburban life with government in charge of everything.

Tom was basically retired when he decided to release one more album.Not many people have heard this

youth.

I've lived a blessed life of 77 years, made friends from many different cultures, tried to change the world, and never gave up -- but I lack the energy to chase dreams anymore.

I do enjoy being a spectator and cheerleader for youngsters, all that's left for me.

Thanks for the memories

I have wanted to visit based on the images in the song (and later video) St George isle since I first heard the song. I have been in Florida many times, but never stayed in the panhandle I hope to visit St. George Isle next year or 2014 area. We are thinking, depending on finances, about a cross country drive in the spring from NY to Los Angeles' beaches, then on the way back making a number of stops and staying there awhile.

Or if we need to do shorter and more realistic, driving south with stops in DC NC and St. George Isle(instead of going to Orlando and further south) and just relax for a week or so.

And I thank you very much, for mentioning St. George Isle and the beaches in your post, and it has me wanting to get in the car and drive right now and spend the winter there. (I am so tired of winters here and know last years warm one won't happen again this year).

and never give up the fight and dreams. We have changed the world and we all continue to do so, even if it seems slow and that time is passing us by with all the new stuff out there.

I often think of my grandparents,and even the two great-grandparents that I knew, who all are deceased now for 35 and many more years, and how much they witnessed in their life, and since they have been gone, how much has changed since.

Destin FL , see below and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Coast.

The Gulf Islands National Seashore has been repaired and is as pristine as one can find today as tourist return to the sea. http://www.nps.gov/guis/index.htm


I warn you when you visit the area you'll return again and again.

P.S. If you drive to Pensacola FL add the Navy's Museum at the Naval Air Station, it has one of the very few Zeros from WWII.

Especially as it is suppose to be near 32 tonight here in NJ.
Wouldn't mind driving down now and staying til spring.

Thanks.

...but SHH, don't tell anyone!

Even Alabama was not all red in 2008. In fact there's more blue in AL than several other states on this county by county map:

It does have more blue than I thought. Maybe I should have said Florida is like Oklahoma.

But your ignorance and bigotry is noted.

It tilts ever so slightly Republican. Clinton carried it 96 and Obama carried it in 08. Gore had it stolen and Kerry made it close.

if the districts weren't gerrymandered, and the Florida Dem Party wasn't so self-serving.

It used to be Bob Graham and Lawton Chiles. Now it's Bill Nelson. And , yeah, thanks to gerrymandering at the state and local level the Democratic vote is diluted.

I love Florida. I miss Florida. To compare it with Alabama is asinine.

State legislature. Whete the fuck do you get off calling me a bigot? Look at who had ran thus state for two decades asshole. Have ever driven back roads between Tampa and I 10? All you see are confederate flags. You need Some education my friend.

Bill Clinton carried Florida. Barack Obama carried Florida. Gore had it stolen and Kerry made it close. Alabama hasn't went blue since 1976.

Not many people live on those back roads. Those that do are probably relatives of the inbred Ohioan militias. Tampa has a Dem mayor and all Dem city council. Tallahassee and G-ville are very liberal. Jacksonville and Orlando are quite diverse. So stick it up you know where.

Here's the 2008 vote by county:

http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/states/president/florida.html

Doesn't look like Alabama to me.

OP is full of shit.

I went to a campaign event in 2000 at Lake Eola and Buddy Dyer, Al Gore, Bill Nelson, and Joe Lieberman were on the dais and I met them all...


FL might not be CA but it's not AL either.

So would former Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio.

Thank goodness for the liberal urban highly populated areas!

is Sweet Home Alabama. Why is THAT? Margaritaville is second.

Only the panhandle is like Alabama. The other parts are quite diverse. OP sounds like a close-minded bigot who's never been to other parts of Florida, yet paints the entire state with a single broad brush.

Have you been to Collier County? Have you been to Okeechobee County? Have you been to Lee County? Have you been to Lucie County? Have you been to He dry County? Yes I have. And about 65 others around the state. And it is Republican as it comes.

Nice try but I know this state and travel it daily.

You're welcome for the civics lesson. Maybe you should get out in the Ohio boondocks and count all the ignorant inbreds before you start trashing other states.

I have for years. I have traveled every nook and crannie from Key west to the panhandle.

Florida us a lot like Ohio. Rednecks as far as you can see except a few isolated areas.

whats with all the Romney signs? yuk.

I driv from very West Boca to very east Boca everyday for work. Palmetto, Glades, etc. Are covered with Romney. I see about 4 Obama signs and that's it.

I guess in that "Republican as it comes" county most republicans voted for Obama...

Aren't you clever with your busted line...

Of course a few counties are blue...just like Alabama. But overwhelmingly it is a red state. Florida...the home of Ave Maria...the Villages...and of course Ocala.

Would you like some cheese with your whine? If Florida is a hell-hole for you, then move already. We don't need whiners. We need people who'll fight to make Florida better, not people who carp about it not being the state they left.

Both State Chambers have been under Republican rule since 1996.

So what difference does it make if there's 500,000 more registered Dems? Either they don't vote or when they do vote they are voting Republican.

and the Fl Dem Party is dysfunctional and self-serving. Some peeps are working to fix that. I assume whiners like yourself aren't. You're more than welcome to go back home. One of our problems is water and infrastructure under pressure from population growth. Just go home, since you're determined to be part of the problem, not part of the solution.

How are you helping to fix the dysfunctional and self-serving Fl Dem party. I'm happy to help. What do I need to do?

Vote for party-supported Dems when you must. Yes, that does involve holding one's nose. Otherwise, try and get progressives elected in the primaries in safe districts. This is entirely doable in metropolitan areas.

Florida 19 as a volunteer. I've also done some phoning for Nelson and the President.

I live in St Lucie County and work in Palm Beach. It is far from a Red County. We have a Democratic Mayor in Ft Pierce. A Democratic Sheriff and many Democrats on County Commission. Now if you want to call Martin Red go ahead. That place is a cesspool! But St Lucie is one of the best Democratic regions in the state!

Merely looking for argument.

St. Lucie are red. Christ make one mistake and people eat you alive.

It couldn't be more different than Alabama. The older I got the longer I lived in Orlando than everybody I met. In other words they were all from somewhere else.

florida has been competitive for awhile and you may have forgotten who won in 2008.

But what I do remember is 2010. Between Skeletor Scott and the State races this state went backward 100 years. We also serve up Marco Rubio and Allen West.

and west is just one district. all is not lost.

West won in one of the most blue areas of FL.. go figure. He's my rep. Ugg. I need a beer.

Connie Mack, Tea Party, and Resting Place of 1%. "Lookie here, we got ourselves at DEMOCRAT". That was my first experience in voting here. Golden Gate area of poor and minorities is districted to MIAMI. Gotta keep this place BLOOD RED anyway they can.

It is not easy be a transplanted Democrat New Yorker HERE.

But fortunately, there are signs of intelligent life in the Sunshine State unlike its dixie neighbors.

and will do so again.

I would have to check.

People forget that parts of upstate NY are also Alabama if we're talking voting tendencies.
People forget that a large swatch of Maryland around Frostburg is as religious-conservative as parts of western VA.
People forget that large rural areas of CT, MA, VT, OR and CA (by voting tendencies, the 5 most-liberal US states) are also conservative.

People also forget that a lot of these aren't going to affect a whole hell of a lot on Election Day.

She said the area was a shit hole, and she grew up on the Rez in western NoDak. When sobody from the Rez says your place sucks, it must REALLY suck.

You are right most of FL is like Bama, just with more Latinos.

Yes Obama won here in '08, but even under the perfect conditions he only won by 2.5 whereas Bush in a tough re-election in '04 won by 5. And we only have one Dem in an elected statewide office, Bill Nelson. People forget that not all registered Dems vote Dem. Plus the Hispanic vote here is closer than most other states due to the Cuban-American vote which goes strongly for the Rs.

Younger ones tend more towards typical hispanic trends. And Cubans are vastly out-numbered by other Latinos... Colombians, Venezuelans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, etc.

I'm one of those young Cubans who votes Dem, but there just aren't enough of us right now to counter the oldies, although they are starting to fade and by decade's end the Cuban vote will probably be a swing vote.