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Our Chance To Shape History

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By TOM JACKSON

Published: January 29, 2008

Say what we will about the crush of political advertisements on television and radio and the madcap statewide barnstorming by GOP frontrunners hoping Florida launches them insurmountably toward the nomination, this culminating day should prove fascinating.

And not merely because Hillary Herself, in an exquisitely, deliciously, singularly Clintonian moment Sunday, promised a polls-closed appearance before her loyalists at an undisclosed location here in the Sunshine State. Is it cynicism or Clinton exhaustion that causes This Space to think her declaration soils the spirit, if not the letter, of the Democratic candidates' pledge to boycott Florida during the primary season, allowing her to create prevoting buzz without setting one of her sensible pumps on the peninsula?

Ah, but there is much to consider this primary Election Day, and we are too easily distracted. Therefore, and more to the point:

Brian Corley is as excited as a beaver locked in a lumber yard. More than 8 percent of eligible voters cast ballots by the close of business Saturday. Extrapolating that turnout, Corley, still walking around in Kurt Browning's well-worn Pasco voting-czar shoes, projects the final turnout will be about 27 percent.

The guess here is that he's low by 9 points, minimum.

In Praise Of The Florida Method

Corley is right to peg early enthusiasm to Amendment 1, which proposes to (Oh, how to say this diplomatically?) further screw up Florida's goofy property tax methodology. We may not know which Republicans favor double-secret timetables for withdrawals from South Korea. We may not know whether it is nobler to vote for Hillary because she's female, Barack because Obama Sr. was black or John Edwards because everything else in this life is synthetic; but, pro or con, we all pretty well know — and are passionate about — this latest skirmish in the property tax wars.

In Corley's defense, it is better in his job to guess low and be delighted than to guess high and be thought out of touch. This much seems certain: If everyone who has heard a Corley exercise-your-franchise speech since Labor Day turns out, precincts will have lines into the parking lots.

In truth, this election deserves no less, not only for a true reading of our regard for Amendment 1 but because this, finally and gloriously, will be an elevating and a winnowing, decided only by registered members of the two major parties themselves. Praise be, a closed primary.

History Lends An Ear

Corley notes, with palpable gratitude, that few early voters seemed surprised or were angered by Florida's primary rules. Those with complaints were directed to the Legislature. "It's their law, not ours," he explains helpfully.

And it's a good one. The idea of allowing nonparty affiliates or crossovers to help select a private group's candidate for president would be hilarious — imagine the nonaligned Buccaneers being polled on which quarterback should start for New England in Sunday's Super Bowl — if it weren't so often repeated, particularly in the early going.

Today, the faithful of each party, plus those former independents who altered their registrations by Dec. 30, have a chance to speak for history. No less than the world itself is eager for our decision.

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