Facing Florida
WEAR (ABC) Mobile, AL
December 8, 2014
2:19:12 – 2:22:41 amTranscript:Vasilinda: We’re gonna talk politics now with a slightly different bend about what happened in November and what the election really meant and joining me now, Dr. Bob McClure from The James Madison Institute with a more conservative idea. You say this wasn’t about enthusiasm gaps so much or ideology or democrat or republican, but about home values and what people want in the people they elected.McClure: Well I think you saw a couple themes take place, not only in Florida, but across the country. Florida demographically represents the entire country and really what happens here politically can also represent the entire country. You saw from the northeast to the southwest, people deciding that across the board, obviously some exceptions, but across the board the government was too big and too burdensome and involved in people’s daily lives and I think you saw in Florida, a current governor, Rick Scott who ran on living the role of government on free enterprise, free trade, small business, job creation, those kinds of things and while he was not Mr. Charisma on the campaign trail, he ran a certain way, he governed a certain way and I think the people of Florida rewarded him for that.Vasilinda: And how much did the fact that they knew both candidates, Charlie Crist and Rick Scott, play into that into your mind?McClure: I think it played a great deal. If we’re all honest, and The James Madison Institute is in the business of being honest, I mean Charlie Crist had been a Republican, called himself a Reagan Republican when he ran against Marco Rubio, that is a direct quote, then he was a no party affiliated candidate, and then he ran as a Democrat. I think to the extent that the democratic voter couldn’t rush out to vote for someone like that, I think that played into the election. But I also think that policy played a significant role in the election as well.Vasilinda: Well the day after the election I brought Pete Dunbar in here and he brought a list of counties, highly Republican counties, Collier, Lee, Pineallas and several others, in which the turnout was in the mid 50s, whereas in some of the key democratic counties, turnout was below 50. And do you think that was the enthusiasm gap?McClure: I do. I think that was the enthusiasm gap, but it’s also a candidate gap and what I mean by that is there have been plenty of times, nationally not so much, in Florida where the Republican has run nationally, Mitt Romney, John McCain, where the turnout in states like Ohio and others were, you know, 4 million voters stayed home for example when Mitt Romney ran than voted for John McCain. It’s a candidate enthusiasm gap and also a policy enthusiasm gap. So it’s easy to say well it’s just Democrat or Republican, it’s not. Both of those really matter.Vasilinda: Probably one of the Democrats’ real problems is that many more people turn out in a presidential year than turnout in an off presidential year and in our next segment we’re gonna talk a little bit about that and why people are going to change that, but what’s your sense of why that is?McClure: Well I think certainly in the last two presidential elections there is no doubt that President Obama has put together a very strong coalition. The question is whether that same coalition will continue to support him were he, for example, able to run again. There is some concern about that. His poll numbers are way down. I also think the coalitions stay together if Obama is not on the ballot at all which clearly he won’t be in 2016. Will they look towards other candidates and other policy issues to support? I think that’s an open question that hasn’t been answered yet.Vasilinda: I think every election is considered to be unique. What was the most unique thing about this election in your mind looking at it?McClure: I think Florida across the board, well if you look at the state of Florida it has a real story and the story is free enterprise works. At The James Madison Institute we say freedom works every time it’s tried. So would you like to be Florida and Texas where nearly half of the country’s jobs over the last four years have been created or would you like to be California and Illinois that depend on big government, the state capitol, union bosses, and they are losing people moving to states that value freedom and I think the governor, we can talk about whether he was a great candidate, he ran on free enterprise and job creation and limiting the role of government in folks’ daily lives and that won and we saw that across the country.Vasilinda: Well he ran as well on “I created 600,000 jobs and the other guy lost 800,000.” Did people really buy that anyone had any control over either one of those factors?McClure: I think that’s a fair question. I don’t know that they bought that the other guy lost 800,ooo but over the last four years the governor has created 600,000 now at JMI we haven’t agreed with him on everything, he’s taken some stances that we wouldn’t agree on but the reality is that he ran a certain way, he governed that way, the results are what they are and the state of Florida rewarded him for that.Vasilinda: Alright Dr. McClure thank you so much for being here to share your spin on the election. I found it very interesting when it came across my desk.McClure: Thanks for having me.Vasilinda: Everyone else, stay with us when we come back, we’re going to talk to the Democratic quote unquote consultant who has a different view at what might be the way future elections should be held. Stay with us, we’ll be right back.View online: http://www.facingfloridatv.com/contact.html
2014
