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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.

I meant 83%, but maybe it was 84%. I definitely recall it being over 80%. In 2004 I think that it dipped to around 78% (even with Mel Martinez running for the Senate), and with a lower turnout—it was impossible to replicate the conditions of 2000 brought about by the Elián travesty. Had that photographer not captured that shot of the frightened Elián being hugged by Donato Dalrymple while Reno’s thug pointed a rifle at the boy’s face, Gore would have carried FL and been elected president.

>> but it should be noted that she remains 100% pro-life and I believe is still pro-gun. <<

Pro-life is one rare example of an issue she's solidly conservative on, but she is definitely anti-gun:

http://www.rightwingnews.com/uncategorized/assault-weapons-ban-introducedby-five-rinos/

She earned an ACU rating of around 48% or something in 2011. She's become one of the biggest RINOs in the House in recent years and she's basically a pro-life version of Shays/Castle/Kirk type "Republicans" now. It might have been hard to primary her in the 2000s when she was in FL-18 and Key West and other liberal enclaves were in her district, but after the 2012 remap (where he district was made to be MORE Republican than the "average" Florida district) I'd say she's ripe for a primary challenge. If Ileana Ros-Lehtinen ain't a RINO, the word is meaningless.

I'm not surprised to learn Marco Rubio is one of her former interns, either.

Since the RATs are always blabbing about gay marriage being "inevitable" because "the younger generation supports it", I'd probably tap someone like Florida State Senator Anitere Flores to take out Ros-Lehtinen. She's from Miami, Catholic (Ros-Lehtinen is episcopalian), appears to be an actual social conservative who has solid ratings on gun rights and traditional families, and is 36 years old: