"The writer got everything right except this part. "Old Florida" or as I call them "the good old boys" did NOT go uniformly for Castor."
I agree with everything you've said. And my analysis is actually political "water witching," but that doen't make it wrong. I'm related by marriage to precisely the "Old Florida" you describe.
It makes absolutely no sense to me either, but I've learned to "read the sign" for when they'll re-elect a sheriff that got caught groping teen-age girls working in his restaurant, and when they'll turn away from somebody who'll give them exactly what they want.
Long story short, Harris has "got it": Castor didn't.
I took a look at that Martinez/Castor race to see where she did better than Kerry, perhaps in indication of where "Old Florida" may have supported her, or at least some of it. Perhaps those of you more familiar with Florida can glean something from the results, where Harris might do better than Martinez. In the other counties, Bush and Martinez ran almost even or in similar proportions. This is what was significantly different for me to note.
Martinez dropped a few thousand votes in Citrus County, turning a nearly 10,000 vote lead for Bush into a near 3,000 vote lead for himself.
Dixie County: Again, dropoff for Martinez and bump for Castor, though he still won the county. Dropoff was about 1,000 votes.
Duval: Martinez still had a big win over Castor, but Bush's win was bigger by about 15,000.
Flagler: Martinez loses narrowly while Bush wins by about 1,000.
Franklin: Same as Flager
Hamilton: Martinez narrowly loses, Bush narrowly wins, with each under a margin of 1,000 votes.
Hillsborough: One of the biggest splits in the vote count. Bush wins by 31,444 votes, while Martinez loses by 22,967.
Lafayette: Tiny county here. Goes for Bush in a landslide, while breaking almost even for Martinez and Castor.
Liberty: Barely goes for Castor by 11 votes. Bush gets about a 900 vote margin here.
Madison: Another Bush/Castor county. Bush squeaked by, Martinez lost by about 1,000.
Manatee, Marion: Martinez drops about 1,000 from Bush's total in each of these counties, while Castor picks up from Kerry's total by about 4,000. (Martinez still wins these, though)
Martinez narrowly won Miami-Dade, doing much better than Bush (Not that he was expected to win it anyway).
Martinez narrowly carried Orange County by 572 votes, while Bush lost it by only 815 votes.
Pasco was not as kind to Martinez as to Bush, shaving off about 10,000 from Bush's total to Martinez. Castor gets a 6,000 vote boost here from Kerry.
Bush scraped out a narrow win in Pinellas County by 226 votes, while Martinez lost it by 36,811 votes. Perhaps the biggest split between the presidential and senatorial races.
Martinez drops about 20,000 in Polk County, and Castor picks up about 7,000 from Kerry's.
Sarasota delivers another hit to Martinez, giving him only a 4,000 margin over Castor, while Bush wins it handily.
Volusia: Bush didn't win this county, and neither did Martinez, though he loses by a bigger margin, dropping 7,000 from Bush's total.
Well, at least we know why the Florida senate race was such a nailbiter. Bush's high turnout is probably got Martinez over the finish line, or at least out of recount territory.