If it was that overwhelming in Bush's favor, I can't see how Gore wins Miami-Dade county at all. Blacks are around 20% of Miami-Dade's population, whereas Hispanics are nearly THREE TIMES higher, and close to 60% countywide in 2000, let alone the city of Miami proper (and I believe the vast majority are Cuban-Americans). I can't find any data on the ancestry of voters there, but the data for the breakdown of foreign-born residents certainly shows Cubans are far higher than any other immigrant group. Country of origin: Cuba (42%), Nicaragua (16%), Colombia (6%), Haiti (6%), the Dominican Republic (3%), etc.
Gore also realized the potential fallout and gave some song and dance that he was "against" deporting Elián (it might have lessened the backlash but I think most people realized Gore's position was for political purposes)
>> The 2012 results were shocking, with Romney winning a slim majority of the Cuban vote in FL. <<
I believe the exit polls showed Obama actually the Cuban vote by a very slim majority in 2012, which was a reversal of Cuban-Americans favoring Republicans since 2000. It was pretty close though. NBC Latino has the numbers as 49%-Obama, 47%-Romney. ( http://nbclatino.com/2012/11/09/surprise-obama-won-floridas-cuban-vote/ ) I think a big problem is a lot young voters of Cuban ancestry are liberal like their non-hispanic counterparts and support gay marriage.
A bit off topic, but speaking of gay marriage, I figured why Ileana Ros-Lehtinen continues to promote "gay rights" after being redistricted into a more conservative district... apparently her daughter Amanda is now calling herself "Rodrigo" and is a "transgender LGBT rights activist" (the media is playing along with the delusion and calling her daughter "he"). According to wikipedia (haven't verified it with other sources), she was the first Republican in the House to endorse gay marriage.
We seriously need to primary these RINOs. They are moving the GOP to the left. Even though Rubio has been a disappointment, the scary thing is he looks like Phyllis Schlafly compared to his house counterparts in Florida like Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. If she's "socially conservative", I'd hate to see what socially liberal looks like.
>> That whole “immigration reform” bullshiite was seen as the culprit, which I believe is why Rubio has embarrassed himself pushing “reform.” <<
So do you now believe Rubio has sold out on amnesty, or are you still taking a wait and see approach since the final version of the bill hasn't come up for a vote?
According to the 2000 Census, 57.3% of Miami-Dade residents were Hispanic, and only 28.87% of Miami-Dade residents were Cuban. http://www.miamidade.gov/business/library/reports/data-flash-hispanics-origin.pdf
Given that many Hispanics, including many Cubans, are non-citizens, I would guesstimate that the percentage of Miami-Dade County voters in 2000 who were Hispanic was not much higher than 50%, and the percentage of voters there who were Cuban was around 30%. And since the county not only has a large black population, but also a very liberal white Anglo population (mostly Jewish, who voted overwhelmingly for Gore-Lieberman), I see nothing strange about Bush getting 84% of the Cuban vote while getting only 46% in the county.
As for Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, I had no idea that her daughter was trying to change her sex (good luck with the Y-chromosome implantation, Amanda). She started supporting the gay lobby back in 2002 when Key West was added to her district, which already included South Beach; maybe her daughter’s condition also contributed to her veering left on that issue. Obviously it’s difficult for Ros-Lehtinen to claim to be a “social conservative” while supporting same-sex “marriage,” but it should be noted that she remains 100% pro-life and I believe is still pro-gun. Romney was held to 46.4% in the FL-27 (same as in the Dem-held FL-26), but Ros-Lehtinen remains untouchable in the general, so I doubt that FL Republicans will be seeking to oust her.
As you may recall, a transgendered, Cuban-American “woman” named “Donna Milo” ran in the GOP primary in FL-20 (the heavily Jewish Broward-Dade CD held by Debbie Wasserman-Schultz) in 2010 and got 22%: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/08/transgender-candidate-receives-22-in-gop-house-primary/62013/ Maybe “Donna” can get together with “Amanda/Rodrigo” Lehtinen.