Florida prediction time

I decided to get out my glass ball again and see if it has so cracks or needs polishing. Right now, it is pretty murky about who will win Florida for the Republicans, but I will take a stab in the dark anyway.

1. McCain
2. Romney
3. Huckabee
4. Guilini
5. Paul

McCain: This is going to be a close one. Sen. Mel Martinez should bring the Cuban-American vote out for McCain in South Florida, and Gov. Crist should bring out votes all over the state. While it is true that Crist has governed much more moderately than I would have initially guessed (he is trying to re-enfrancize certain felons of their right to vote for example) he still won a GOP primary and general election pretty handily. He doesn't want to look weak in this primary, so his old campaign hands will be helping out Sen. McCain, who helped him out by campaigning for him 2 years ago. 30-33%

Romney: All those adds (Mitt ran more commericals in the fall in Florida than McCain has all of January) and organization makes him close. Plus, many Republicans still just don't trust McCain for his loud and proud unothordox votes during the past 8 years. Some polls show him leading, others have him behind. You have to believe that a popular governor (he is basically the Jon Huntsman Jr. of Florida) can drag his endorsee over the finish line within his own party's primary, however. Mitt falls just short, close enough (1 percent) that he will claim he "tied for the gold" but he needs this win out of Florida more than McCain does. 30-33%

Huckabee: He has basically pulled out of the state, because he doesn't have enough money to compete here and all of the states to come. But his fellow Baptists will help him get a respectible showing: 11-14%

Giuliani: The dream of another war in the Middle East for no good reason dies in Florida. The more voters got to know Rudy, the more they disliked him. Look for him to endorse McCain. At least he beat his arch rival, Ron Paul: 10-13%

Paul: Will the blimp go to the Super Bowl? 8-10%

As for the Democrats, they all agreed that this race wouldn't count.... Until Hillary lost South Carolina, then they had to parse the meaning of "campaign," pointing to national cable ads that Obama bought that happen to run in Florida. So Hillary made some statements and viola, Sen. Nelson of Florida endorses her, as does Janet Reno. She is even planning on being in the state immediately following the voting to hold a victory rally in hopes that the media will cover her (assumed) win. Having a million Democrats vote with all of the major candidates on the ballot sure is hard to ignore, but I just don't like the changing the rules in the middle of the game. Look for HRC to get about 50-55% Obama to get 25-28% and Edwards to get 17-20% Oh and apparantly Gravel is still "running."