Why Florida Matters

For the Democrats Florida does matter:

1) Clinton took 50% of the vote in one of the most
diverse states

2) Many Floridians voted early - In California and
many other states people have been voting for up to
a month already - meaning that anywhere from a third to
one half of the vote is already in - before the Kennedy
endorsement took place

3) The percentage vote broke down pretty close to what
took place in both Nevada and to some extent South Carolina and New Hampshire - Obama got the great majority of African-American votes, Clinton got the great majority of white and Hispanic votes, Obama got the college educated/upper class vote, Clinton got the downstream vote -
All this means that whether the candidates campaigned or not in the state the results were eerily similar when they did campagin

4) If this model holds, then many Super Tuesday states will fall to Clinton - California, New York, New Jersey, etc. Obama will be very competitive in Illinois and the southern states.

5) The Florida delegates could be pivotal. If the election is still close and goes to the convention, how could the national party not allow Florida to be fully seated? - Without a full functioning Florida Democratic Party in place for the November election, the Dems will cede the state to the Republicans and most likely give the election to McCain.

So don't be fooled by the media's pronouncement that Florida was just a beauty contest. Everything in an election is closely scrutinized by all campaigns. For Clinton there was much to crow about and for Obama much to worry about.