Presidential couple (dad and mom) hit trail for Jeb [NEWEST POLL RESULTS: JEB WIDENS HIS LEAD]

By Mark Silva | Sentinel Political Editor
Posted October 19, 2002

...Although various polls have suggested that the governor's race is close, a new survey showing Bush with a 9-point lead over McBride gave cheer to the Republicans on Friday.

The poll by McLaughlin & Associates of Alexandria, Va., done for U.S. Sugar Corp., shows Bush with 49.2 percent to McBride's 40.5 percent, with the remainder undecided. The margin of error was 4 percent. Six hundred people were surveyed by phone Wednesday and Thursday this week.

Jim McLaughlin, the pollster, said Bush was running solidly ahead in all parts of the state except South Florida. The results contrast with a Zogby International poll from last week, showing a three-point lead for the governor....

This line from DU is so revealing:

"So we must vote in record numbers and hope it goes our way. But with Ashcroft's Justice Department down here to keep the elections "honest", I am not optimistic."

What they're really saying, of course, is that they want no DOJ people down here so that the local Rat apparatchiks can fiddle around with the voter rolls.

Thankfully, Bush appears to be way ahead of them, which is why Ashcroft is being sent in to respond to the "civil rights" concerns of the "minority community".

Be Seeing You,

Chris

I agree about real estate down here, Summer. It's really exploded, huh?! We plan to place our house on the market in a month for the snowbirds. I am a *seller*! So Ann...we're not greedy - I just want to head back to drier climates. I'm like a displaced saguaro.

Anyway, about Jeb...I *love* this from the Goldwater Institute:

Jeb Bush of Florida is the real tax-cutting fiscal conservative in the family. In a state with no income tax, Gov. Bush has cut the Florida property tax by $1 billion, and in 2001 he cut the business intangible tax by another $600 million. Earlier this year he took the unusual step of walking the halls of the Capitol himself asking members of both parties to oppose a sales tax hike sponsored by members of his own party. Mr. Bush has also distinguished himself by promoting one of the most innovative choice-based school reforms in the nation -- a plan that allows students in failing schools to go to any public or private school of their choice -- and by enacting tort reform legislation fiercely opposed by the trial lawyers.

and this:

Cato Policy Analysis No. 454 September 20, 2002

Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors: 2002
by Stephen Moore and Stephen Slivinski

Stephen Moore is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. Stephen Slivinski, a former fiscal policy analyst at the Cato Institute, is director of tax and budget studies at the Goldwater Institute.

Executive Summary

Against the backdrop of the worst state budget crunch in years, this report presents the findings of Cato Institute's sixth biennial fiscal policy report card on the nation's governors. The report card's grading is based on 17 objective measures of each governor's fiscal performance. Governors who have cut taxes and spending the most receive the highest grades. Those who have increased spending and taxes the most receive the lowest grades.

This year, two governors receive the highest grade of A: Bill Owens of Colorado and Jeb Bush of Florida. Four governors receive the lowest grade of F: Gray Davis of California, Don Sundquist of Tennessee, Bob Taft of Ohio, and John Kitzhaber of Oregon.

The governors of some of America's most populous states and their grades are George Pataki of New York, B; George Ryan of Illinois, D; and John Engler of Michigan, B.

GO JEB!

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