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Here's an interesting excerpt about why people predicted Gore would lose Florida, from the article I linked to above in my post #71:

McGinty revealed that Gore was contemplating a campaign rally in South Florida that would emphasize his lifelong defense of the environment and the Clinton administration's efforts to restore the Everglades. If the vice president were to hold such a rally in South Florida, McGinty wondered, would there be protesters?

The answer she received was unambiguous: You can count on it.

According to those present, McGinty replied, "It breaks the vice president's heart" that he can't schedule an environmental event in South Florida for fear of being embarrassed by protesters over the Homestead issue.

"There were a lot of questions about whether he could risk showing up down here," recalls Chinquina. "And our answer was no. Unless he is coming to announce his position on the air base, don't come."

As the meeting drew to a close, after more than two hours of debate, McGinty tried to end on a positive note. "Win or lose, the vice president wants you to know that he cares about you," she reportedly said.

"Well, take our friendship back to the vice president," Chinquina replied, "and tell him that only a true friend will tell you what you don't want to hear. And what you don't want to hear is that you are going to lose this election because of Homestead. Because no matter what we say, a lot of our folks are going to vote for Nader.

Chinquina was right. Forget about hanging chads and butterfly ballots. Forget about confused voters and missing ballot boxes. Forget about recounts and lawsuits. If Al Gore loses Florida's 25 electoral votes, and with them the presidency, he can blame himself for refusing to stand in opposition to an airport at Homestead Air Force Base.

Ralph Nader received more than 96,000 votes in Florida. In the final week of the campaign, he visited Miami and hammered away at the vice president's silence regarding Homestead. "Al Gore is waffling as usual," Nader exclaimed. "He refuses to take a position as usual."

On the eve of the election, Nader sent out a letter to environmentalists across the state, attacking both Gore and Bush but singling out Gore for particular scorn. "On the Everglades, currently a key issue in a hotly contested state...."Gore has not opposed a proposed commercial airport on the site of the former Homestead Air Force Base, despite the protest of local people working for conservation and his own EPA. There are no airports situated on the border of national parks in America; the Everglades is the last place to consider changing that fact. In general, work to restore the Everglades should be done for the public, and for future generations, not on the basis of debts called in by the sugar industry and local power brokers."

And, I thought this excerpt from the same article was also very interesting, about how DEM Senator Bob Graham, in addition to Al Gore, has likewise failed to support FL environmentalists:

"As long as this fight has been happening, he [D-Sen Graham] has been pro-airport all the way in Homestead," Chinquina continues. "And if there is anybody who has been willing to circumvent the process to get that airport up, it's Bob Graham. I know of meetings leading up to the decision to initiate an SEIS where Bob Graham was in offices pounding his fist on tables saying, “This will be an airport.' He was getting emotionally involved in this thing, trying to twist the president's arm to not to move forward with an SEIS, to get that airport on line."

In 1996, for instance, New Times reported that Graham pressured Sen. John Chaffee (R-Rhode Island) to withdraw a request he had made to the General Accounting Office for an investigation into the Homestead airport proposal.

County Commissioner Katy Sorenson says she also has been disturbed by Graham's actions. "I've been frustrated with Senator Graham's position on this issue," she reports. "I've talked to him myself and met with members of his staff. At first he was noncommittal, then he was more pro-airport. I don't think he's ever been with the environmentalists on this issue."

Adds Alan Farago: "Bob Graham has left a trail of anger and disappointment over the Homestead Air Force Base. It is a terrible disappointment that this issue will now be a lasting part of his legacy and will seriously tarnish his reputation as an environmentalist."

"We've talked to Senator Graham many times," says Ocean Reef's David Ritz, "and we have not been very successful. He is more concerned with the airport issues than he is with the environmental issues. It does surprise me that he is not leading the charge to protect this national resource."

Kim James, a spokeswoman in Graham's Washington office, denies the senator has been pushing for the airport development in Homestead. "Senator Graham has had an historic interest in transportation needs in South Florida, going back to the days before he was governor," James says. "On the issue of the conveyance of Homestead Air Force Base, Senator Graham has said that he will await the results of the secretary of the air force's review of the supplemental environmental impact study and will be guided by his recommendations."

Environmentalists find it ironic that, with regard to this subject, their strongest allies have often been Republicans while their fiercest opponents have been Democrats. Outgoing Republican Sen. Connie Mack, for example, opposes the development of a commercial airport at the air base. One of Mack's Republican colleagues, Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio, tried to guarantee that the proposed airport would not hinder plans to restore the Everglades.

On the other hand, redeveloping the base as a commercial airport has been supported over the years by Graham and fellow Democrats such as Penelas, Congresswoman Carrie Meek, former Gov. Lawton Chiles, Senator-elect Bill Nelson while he was state insurance commissioner, and State Sen. Daryl Jones.

"One of our scariest moments was when [Jones] was up for secretary of the air force," Chinquina relates, referring to President Clinton's 1997 nomination of the South Miami-Dade legislator to the post. Many environmentalists believe that if Jones had been confirmed as air force secretary, he would have pushed through the plan to turn over the base to Miami-Dade County. Jones eventually withdrew his nomination following questions raised by this newspaper regarding his service in the air force reserve and his involvement as a lobbyist in a local municipal bond deal.