Hypothetical Florida Split

[prahaboheme]

Better yet, why doesn't the Confederacy reunite and attempt a succession from the North, only to be grossly humiliated all over again!

[bobliocatt]

^Bad idea, since most of the Deep South doesn't think Florida is a Southern State, because of its diversity, we would have to watch from being shot in the back on the battlefield.

[RiversideGator]

Why stop there? Lets take back Biloxi, Mobile and everything else that used to be a part of Florida.

This is correct. West FL, under British rule, used to continue all the way to the Lousiana border.

Better yet, why doesn't the Confederacy reunite and attempt a succession from the North, only to be grossly humiliated all over again!

The word is secession. If at first you dont secede, try try again.

As to being humiliated, the South did not lose because of a lack of valor but simply from being outnumbered. Read your history - the South actually kicked the hell out of the North for about 3 years until the North got two generals, Grant and Sherman, who realized that the way for the North to win was to engage in a ruthless war of attrition (and by targetting civilians) which the North would inevitably win because of having more soldiers. I think most scholars would agree that, at least at the early stages of the War, the South had better officers, foot soldiers, and cavalry.

Bad idea, since most of the Deep South doesn't think Florida is a Southern State, because of its diversity, we would have to watch from being shot in the back on the battlefield.

Actually, Florida had the country's first Jewish Senator (prior to the Civil War) and many blacks, Indians, Jews and Mexicans fought in the Confederate Armies.

[monsoon]

I've always thought of it as Florida and South Florida. Two different planets So I would vote for this option.

[Charleston native]

I chose South of Central. I really agree with monsoon's point, South Florida is pretty different from the rest of the state, even though Orlando seems to be following suit. I would also agree with Riverside's statement about the difference culturally...to an extent. I think the areas around the Space Coast including Brevard County and the Winter Haven area (Polk County) are vastly different from Miami-Dade, and maybe Hillsborough as well (Tampa).

Maybe include Sarasota and Charlotte counties into South Florida as well. What would you call the new state? Miami?! I guess you could call the new states South Florida and North Florida...just like the Carolinas and Dakotas!

[sunshine]

I will pick this one, clearly separate the blue from the red. This line also separate the southern culture from the "not so southern culture".

[gjoseph]

I think you should Include Tampa because Tampa is like a Miami Jr. and does have the 2nd most hispanic city population on the state!

[ironchapman]

I think you should Include Tampa because Tampa is like a Miami Jr. and does have the 2nd most hispanic city population on the state!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, but if we went by sunshine's Red vs. blue theory of separating the state, Hillborough and Pinellas County are quite red.

[sunshine]

Volusia and Orange are quite blue while Osceola, Seminole & Brevard are border line blue.

[bobliocatt]

^Other than Orange and Osceola which are both borderline blue, all the others are just as red as Hillsborough, Pinellas, Polk, and Sarasota Counties. However overlooked in this all is, Gadsen and Leon Counties, in the heart of the Panhandle, which are just as blue, if not more, than South Florida.

[Aessotariq]

2004 election results in Florida, by county:

Seminole, Pinellas, and Osceola were blue in 2000 and swung red in 2004.

[bobliocatt]

Just to dig into the surface a little, since Florida is a swing state, then there must be several borderline red/blue counties. Does anyone have an idea of what counties were borderline red/blue and which ones were solid blue?

[ironchapman]

National Election Percentages

This is the best one I could find. It shows the percentage of voters in each county across the nation who voted for Kerry. I'll have to find a Bush one, though.

The map may appear small at first, but you can enlarge it.

[bic]

"The map above shows Florida voters splitting the ticket--voting in the senatorial race for one party, then in the presidential race for the other. Red indicates a shift towards the Rebublican presidential canditate (i.e. voting for the Democratic senatorial candidate and then the Republican presidential candidate), Blue indicates a shift toward the Democratic presidential candidate. The deeper the shade of red or blue, the more prominent the phenomenon."

And then the correlation between county population and ticket splitting:

Source

[krazeeboi]

Better yet, why doesn't the Confederacy reunite and attempt a succession from the North, only to be grossly humiliated all over again!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

^Bad idea, since most of the Deep South doesn't think Florida is a Southern State, because of its diversity, we would have to watch from being shot in the back on the battlefield.

I'm sure I could think of a couple of other reasons, non-specific to Florida, why it's a bad idea...

[bobliocatt]

I'm sure we all could, lol.

[Dale]

Except for the independent city-state that is Miami-Dade. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Touche ! Although Miami-Dade is less Democrat than most major cities. Owing in no small part to about a million Cubans.

[ironchapman]

Touche ! Although Miami-Dade is less Democrat than most major cities. Owing in no small part to about a million Cubans. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Wow, I didn't know that! I thought they were as liberal as, say, LA was.

[F-L-A]

Am I the only one that finds this pointless? Just... why? Because the counties vote differently? Seems like an odd reason to chop up the state. And FYI, if you were to divide the state by culture, you'd have to divide it into three parts, not two. Separating Miami from the rest of the state makes no sense unless you also separate Orlando and Tampa from Jax and the Redneck Riviera.

[bobliocatt]

From my personal experience, Orlando, Tampa and Jax aren't the much different culturally speaking. The only difference that really stands out is that the two other cities have a higher number of tourist, from different areas.

[Brickell]

Touche ! Although Miami-Dade is less Democrat than most major cities. Owing in no small part to about a million Cubans. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Less Democratic but no less liberal from my experience. The Left/Right scale gets skewed down here from the typical American one. Socially progressive with a mind your own business bent.

Also from my experience, The I-4 corridor isn't all that different culturally from the rest of the south. More urban and metropolitan with a bunch more northerners, but in my opinion retains it's southern roots.

[Brickell]

I also finding interesting that the Tampa North/Orlando South split is tied for the lead. It was the most contrived split in my opinion. I've always considered the Tampa Bay region to be in tune with South Florida than Orlando. I don't see wanting to split the I-4 corridor though.

[Aessotariq]

Touche ! Although Miami-Dade is less Democrat than most major cities. Owing in no small part to about a million Cubans.

Wow, I didn't know that! I thought they were as liberal as, say, LA was.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That number is more like 650,000 Cubans, and 1.2 million total Hispanics in Miami-Dade...

Older generation Cubans' loyalty to the Republican party tends to revolve about just one issue: Fidel Castro -- that's the N-word in Cuban politics. It's more of an about face against Castro than anything else, because Cubans tend to be liberal on most everything else. The younger second and third generations are trending more toward the Democratic side. Non-Cuban Hispanics tend to be "blue" as well.

[depechecureguyorl]

I also finding interesting that the Tampa North/Orlando South split is tied for the lead.  It was the most contrived split in my opinion.  I've always considered the Tampa Bay region to be in tune with South Florida than Orlando.  I don't see wanting to split the I-4 corridor though.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think the exact opposite of your statement is true and that could be why the Tampa North/Orlando South split is tied...

IMO, Metro Orlando is somewhat conservative, but moreso in the northern burbs than in the city center & southern Orlando. There seems to be a more progressive attitude toward social/economic issues now that the area has grown in population & industry. Granted, this area is HQ to numerous religious organizations, but politically; Orlando is very moderate.

I've faced a quite different attitude in Metro Tampa. Yes, they are an older city with more established industry, but IMO, there still appears to be a regressive attitude toward social/economic issues and a lot of folks down there are VERY conservative. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place in Tampa...

[Tim3167]

The third one would be a big problem for the Four Corners area near Orlando attractions. This is a coomunity that is already stuggling with services from 4 different counties even though it is a single community. A state line down the middle sure wouldn't help.