Changes

==Politics==

==Politics==

Republican Senator [[Mel Martinez]] astonished Floridians by suddenly resigning in August 2009. Governor [[Charlie Crist]] appointed [[George LeMieux]], who was Crist's campaign manager in 2006 and served as deputy attorney general of Florida when Crist was attorney general. LeMieux is regarded as one of the shrewdest political strategists in the state and, like Crist, is a moderate Republican. Crist then decided to run for the seat.

Florida is a swing state in presidential elections. The South Florida region (Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach, along with the Florida Keys) along with the urban areas of Tampa and Orlando and the Tallahassee capital area, are heavily Democratic, while the rural, suburban, and northern parts of the state (Jacksonville, Pensacola, and the areas around the Air Force bases of Eglin and Tyndall) are heavily Republican. The swing state phenomenon was most pronounced during the 2000 presidential election when the margin of victory for eventual winner George W. Bush was a mere 537 votes (triggering a mandatory recount under Florida state law and a number of lawsuits and judicial rulings).

 

Crist was elected governor in 2006, running as a fiscal conservative and a moderate on social issues. His style is folksy and he searches for bipartisanship. His handling of the great hurricanes of 2005-6 was widely praised.  He appointed one moderate and two conservatives to the state supreme court. His support for [[John McCain]] helped carry the state primary and played a role in giving the 2008 GOP nomination to McCain. He cut property taxes and cut the state budget, but annoyed some conservatives by his enthusiastic support for the Obama administration's stimulus bill in spring 2009. Polls show a strong base of support from conservatives and moderates and some liberals. However, Crist was defeated in the Republican Senate Primary in 2010; his rival in the GOP primary was state House Speaker Marco Rubio, a Cuban American.

 

Florida is a swing state in presidential elections.

==State symbols==

==State symbols==