Check out the Obama campaign blog for photos from Barack Obama's swing through the Sunshine state.

Call 1-877-235-6226 or visit http://fl.barackobama.com to find your closest early vote location.

Americans' retirement plans have lost as much as $2 trillion in the past 15 months, Congress' top budget analyst estimated Tuesday. [...]

As Congress investigates the causes and effects of the financial meltdown, the House Education and Labor Committee was hearing from retirement savings and budget analysts on how the housing, credit and other financial troubles have battered pensions and other retirement funds, which are among the most common forms of savings in the United States.

"Unlike Wall Street executives, America's families don't have a golden parachute to fall back on," said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the panel chairman. "It's clear that their retirement security may be one of the greatest casualties of this financial crisis."

Yet, John McCain stlil wants to privatize Social Security.

And while Sarah Palin is in Florida promising that John McCain will "protect' entitlement programs, his economic advisers are telling the press that there will be massive cuts into Medicare and Medicaid. Perhaps she hadn't read in the newspapers her what her campaign wants to do just yet.

Staff at the Hillsborough County Democratic Party offices in Tampa have been getting barraged with phone calls from party members who have received what they say are deceptive mailers.

Some of the mailers sought support for Republican presidential candidate John McCain; others simply asked for a donation to the Republican National Committee. Most of the voters who have received them are elderly and registered Democrats, local party officials said.

"I still don't understand their angle," said Michael Steinberg, the county Democratic Party's executive committee chairman. "Frankly, it doesn't really make any sense."

One possibility, he suggested, was "vote caging." By sending the mailings to registered voters in envelopes that can't be forwarded, groups can compile lists of voters who might have moved or are part-time residents. Those lists could then be used to challenge the voters' registration and prevent their absentee ballots from being counted in the general election.

An editorial in the St. Petersburg Times calls the mailings some of the "sleaziest campaign tactics."

It apparently uses incorrect or fraudulent voter identification numbers, and it arrives on official-looking forms titled "voter registration tracking forms.'' One of its devious aims appears to be to build lists to challenge the eligibility of legitimate voters. Such an effort to confuse older voters is contemptible, and McCain should denounce it.

Florida Democrats:

Jacksonville, Florida's largest city with more than 800,000 people, voted for 58% for George W. Bush in 2004. When President Bush visited Jacksonville during the 2004 election, he had nearly 50,000 supporters fill Alltel Stadium. [Jacksonville Times-Union, October 24, 2004]

In contrast, John McCain only drew 3,000 at the most to see him this morning at Jacksonville Memorial Arena, which has a capacity of 16,000.

State Tax Collection Fell Short $263.9 Million Over Three Months This Year; Expected Worsen. "State tax collections fell a combined $263.9 million below anticipated levels in March, April and May. June figures are expected to be about $100 million short as the state sinks into recession, economists said." [Orlando Sentinel, 7/6/08]

Florida Is Facing $2 Billion Shortfall from First Year of Crist administration. Florida is facing a $2 billion dollar short fall from '07. [Tallahassee Democrat, 2/1/08]

Crist Using Half of the State Budget Stabilization Fund to Patch Hole in Current Budget. "Seeking to avoid a grim, budget-cutting session while they're running for re-election, legislators earlier this year gave Crist authority to use half of the state's budfund -- or about $700 million -- to patch holes in the 2008-09 spending plan." [Orlando Sentinel, 7/6/08]

My name is Roy Gross. I’m a proud member of Teamsters Local 299 in Detroit, Michigan.

When I was a young man and wanted to start a family, I went to Detroit and landed a job as an automobile transporter. I delivered new cars from the assembly plants to dealerships around the country.

It was a great job, a Teamsters union job. You worked hard and it paid good wages, plus health care and pension. I worked there for 18 years. Working class families were doing well in Detroit until the Bush Administration took office, then everything changed.

Manufacturing jobs were exported by the hundreds of thousands and replaced with minimum-wage jobs in the so-called “New Economy.” I’m one of the lucky ones; I still have a job. But many of my friends and co-workers have lost their jobs and their homes.

If you ask me, this so-called “New Economy” is not working. We need a renewed economy. That’s why I’m seeing so many of my friends in Michigan - Democrats, Republicans and Independents - putting aside their differences to join this campaign.

Barack Obama will enact fair trade policies and work just as hard for us as we work for America. I will do everything I can, from now until Election Day, to put Michigan in the Obama column.

Monica Early, Ohio

I’m Monica Early from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Last January, someone sent me an e-mail containing so-called “facts” about Senator Obama. The e-mail painted a scary picture, questioning his faith and patriotism. I decided to do some fact-checking on my own and learned the truth.

What I discovered is that Barack Obama is a man of faith, a man of values and a man of action—someone who has shown his love for America by fighting for our people, helping communities left behind on Chicago’s South Side, fighting today for working families and the tax breaks we need to purchase a home, pay for college and save for retirement.

I am grateful for the e-mail that tried to scare me. It brought me here, an ordinary citizen, empowered by a leader who told me I could make a difference. Ohio is home to four of the fastest-dying cities in America. John McCain promises to continue the Bush economic policies that got us there.

Einstein said a definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. If we elect John McCain, then, according to Einstein, we surely would be insane.

We need change. We need President Barack Obama!

Wes Moore

Hi, my name is Wes Moore. Twelve years ago, I took an oath on the Bible to defend, support and protect the United States of America. Today, I cannot fathom a more perfect expression of my allegiance as a soldier and citizen than giving my full support for Barack Obama to be my next commander-in-chief.

Before I deployed for Afghanistan, my grandparents gave me a Bible. Inside, they wrote four simple words: have faith, not fear. Those words protected and guided me and the soldiers under my command during some of the most trying days of my life.

I want a president who has a comprehensive strategy for Iraq and Afghanistan, and who can rally young people to serve, both in and out of uniform, and sees these as complementary, not contradictory goals. I want a president who believes in supporting our troops while we are fighting overseas, and supporting us with proper health care and education when we come home.

This election is not about history. Nor is it about making history. It’s about seizing history.

The charge my grandparents gave me—have faith, not fear—is the same challenge I issue tonight. A faith that this nation can rise to meet any challenge.

Tonight, Senator Obama is not asking you to have faith in him. He is asking you to have faith with him. Let’s make Barack Obama our next president.

The Honorable Janet Monacco, Florida

I’m Janet Monaco from Rockledge, Florida, by way of Long Island, New York. Fourteen years ago I moved to Florida to pursue my vision of the American dream. Within five years, I had bought a house and opened two pet stores. I was living well.

Then disaster struck: back-to-back hurricanes, and rising costs of food and gas. Today, I’m a struggling small-business owner who is diabetic and without health insurance. I work 70-hour weeks at the store and more hours in a part-time job and still can’t afford insurance.

I don’t tell this story to get sympathy. Everyone has challenges. But what gets me angry is that George Bush and John McCain have done nothing for people like me—and, in fact, have done plenty of things that make it even harder to get by. Huge tax breaks for those at the top. Looking out for the lobbyists and not the little guy. And billions spent in tax cuts for big corporations, but not enough for small businesses like mine.

I’m supporting Barack Obama, because we can’t afford four more years of the same. Yes, we can make a change!

Nathaniel Fick

Good afternoon. I’m Nathaniel Fick. My Marine platoon landed in Afghanistan on a moonlit night in 2001. A little more than a year later, we rolled into Iraq. I’ll never forget one dawn after a vicious gun battle. We’d just medevaced one of our wounded Marines, and I turned to see a small American flag hanging from a humvee’s antenna. For a second, it reminded me of the line we all know so well: “And our flag was still there.”

I registered as a Republican at 18 and voted for John McCain in 2000. It took seven years of hard experience to get me on this stage. But we cannot afford more of the same. That’s why we need Barack Obama and Joe Biden to lead us beyond the tired divisions of the past. They have the judgment to make the right decisions, leading our military, and uphold our highest ideals.

Everyone who fought in Iraq or Afghanistan has left something: a friend, a limb, a piece of their youth. In those palm groves and on those ridge lines, this is personal for us. I don’t want to retreat; I want to win.

The past seven years have been hard, often heartbreaking. Our flag, however, is still there. Let’s move forward in our quest to live up to the idea of America.

Teresa Brito-Asenap, New Mexico

Buenas noches, good evening.

I am Teresa Brito-Asenap from Albuquerque, New Mexico. The first nine years of my life my grandparents worked with me to study and learn. They always talked about the importance of education. But it was not until third grade that I realized that mi abuelita, my grandmother, could neither read nor write.

But because of them, today I hold a doctorate in education. I owe them and my parents everything. Strong families raise strong students. All they need are world-class schools and dedicated teachers. Yet because of George W. Bush and John McCain, our schools don’t have the resources they need to meet the high standards of No Child Left Behind.

We don’t need four more years of the same. We need to turn the page and put our kids at the head of the class. Barack Obama will invest $10 billion a year in early education funding and give any student who wants to go to college a $4,000 tax credit. That’s the change we need and the change Barack Obama will bring as president of the United States.

Arriba y adelante – si se puede!

Pamela Cash-Roper, North Carolina

I’m Pam from Pittsboro, North Carolina. Wait till you hear what’s happening to me.

You might find my story familiar. Maybe it’s happening to you.

My husband, Keith, and I used to have a modest home we could afford, cars, money in a 401(k) plan, health insurance, and our health. We educated ourselves, got good jobs with benefits, worked night and day, raised four happy children, and saved some money.

It was the American dream. We did everything we thought you were supposed to do to live it. We really felt America was working for us.

Then, eight years ago, our American dream turned into a nightmare. Keith needed open-heart surgery. He lost his job and with it the family’s health insurance. I couldn’t afford to pay for health insurance on my nurse’s income, so we don’t have any.

Having no health insurance works – as long as you stay healthy.

Five years after Keith’s surgery, I had a quadruple bypass, and our medical expenses grew.

I’m a lifelong Republican who voted for Nixon, Reagan, Bush, and Bush. But I can’t afford four more years like this.

That’s why I am supporting Barack Obama as my president.

Barney Smith, Indiana

My name is Barney Smith.

For most of my life, I was a proud Republican.

Growing up in the Indiana heartland, America was a place of boundless opportunity. You could go to the town factory and get a job the same day. You could start a family and buy a house with your salary.

My father started at Marion’s RCA plant in 1949, manufacturing picture tubes for TV sets.

I started in 1973. My wife worked in a high school cafeteria. Together, we made a living and raised a family.

Then, in 2004, the plant closed. Today, a foreign worker does my job.

After 31 years, I received 90 days’ severance pay and was unemployed.

Thirteen months later, I got a job at a distribution center.

Republicans talk about putting “country first,” but tell that to Marion, Indiana. They sent my job overseas.

America can’t afford more of the same. We need a president who puts the Barney Smiths before the Smith Barneys.

I’m going to put country first by voting Barack Obama for president.

The heartland needs change. And with Obama, we’re going to get it.

For more on the Bush-McCain-Crist connection, go to the "100 Days, 100 Ways" web site (www.100days100ways.com).

For more on how Florida has suffered under failed Bush-McCain policies, visit the "Florida" article at McCainpedia.org (http://mccainpedia.org/index.php/Florida).

I believe in the American dream because I am a product of it. This is the only country in the world that inspires a dream; we provide refuge to those seeking freedom, hope to those seeking opportunity.

Our nation’s history is built on the stories of men and women who, from many, have become one. It does not matter what your name is, where you came from or what language your ancestors spoke. We are all Americans.

We all want the dignity that comes from a hard day’s work. We all want the freedom from worry when a loved one gets sick. We all want schools where our children can learn what is needed to succeed. We all want the opportunity to dream. En America - de muchos somos uno - y es nuestro deber proteger el sueño americano para todos.

The past eight years have placed this dream in jeopardy. Today, we must defend the dream for all Americans. Para esto, necesitamos un cambio. For this, we need change. Change to restore faith in our country and faith in ourselves. We stand on the foundation of hope built by those who came before us. We have a duty to keep the dream alive for our children, and their children.

When the voices of fear and doubt say we cannot, we must answer: yes, we can. Sí se puede. We can end the era in which Americans have come to believe that getting by is good enough. We can end the era in which we dreamt small, or failed to dream at all.

Now is our time to restore the dream. A nation where you are not judged on the language you speak, but the words spoken; not by the color of your skin, but the content of your character; a nation where a 6 year old, like Barack, like Manuel, can have access to opportunity, the audacity of hope, the reality of the dream. A nation where future generations will be able to proclaim that we left them a world better than we received.

Today, American influence abroad wanes. Our advice is not sought. Our warnings are not heeded. Our standing in the world is at an all-time low. For seven long years, America has paid a dear price for the national security mistakes of President Bush and John McCain.

We entered into an unnecessary war and remain bogged down in Iraq, as Afghanistan backslides, and the architects of Sept. 11 remain free. On Bush and McCain’s watch, we have witnessed the growing influence of a belligerent Iran that has destabilized the Middle East and threatens our ally, Israel.

Americans have a clear choice in November. John McCain offers more of the same failed policies that endanger America and Israel. Barack Obama offers the change we need. Barack Obama will responsibly end the war in Iraq, prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, and turn our focus back to defeating al Qaeda. And he will bring to the White House an unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security.

In his heart, in his gut, Barack Obama stands with Israel. Not only his words, but his deeds, bear testament to this fact. Barack Obama, not John McCain, led the fight in the Senate by introducing divestment legislation that would deliver powerful economic sanctions against Iran.

Barack Obama has seen, with his own eyes, the genuine threats faced by Israelis every day. He recently traveled to Sderot, along the Gaza border, and met young families who want nothing more than to go about their lives in security and peace. Instead, as they go to work, as they take their children to school, they have suffered under the daily terror of rocket attacks.

Barack Obama understands the threats Israel faces from Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. And as president, Barack Obama will strongly support Israel’s right and capability to defend itself, and finally make progress toward the goal of a two-state solution that preserves Israel’s security as a Jewish state.

During his recent trip to Israel, Barack visited Yad Vashem, Jerusalem’s Holocaust memorial, where he recommitted himself to combating anti-Semitism and ending the genocide in Darfur. Because Barack Obama knows that the words “never again” must have real meaning in our time.

That’s the leadership we need to keep America strong and allies like Israel secure. Leadership that restores our strength and America’s global standing under the next great President of the United States, Barack Obama.

Welcome to Colorado. Welcome to the West, where we’re building the new Democratic majority. Over four centuries ago, before the Pilgrims and the Puritans, before Jamestown and Plymouth, my ancestors came to this land and founded the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico. They named it Santa Fe, the City of Holy Faith, because they knew that only faith could secure a brighter future for themselves and for their children.

For five generations, my family has farmed the same land in Colorado’s San Luis Valley, 250 miles from here. Together they raised eight children on our farm. We were poor, with no electricity and no telephone, but all eight of us became first generation college graduates. My parents gave us the covenant of America, the covenant that binds us together as one nation: that no matter who you are or where you’re from, anything is possible in America.

Just 500 miles southeast of here, in El Dorado, Kansas, another mother instilled that same dream in her son, Barack Obama. Barack Obama’s grandfather defended that dream as a soldier in General Patton’s army. Barack Obama’s father followed that dream to an America of freedom and opportunity. For Barack Obama, that dream runs deep and strong.

But for the last eight years, under the failed policies of George Bush, the American dream has been slipping away. For too many American families, no matter how hard you work, no matter how hard you try, you just can’t get ahead. The White House has turned its back on you.

The rural America I know has become a forgotten America. We can’t afford more of the same.

We can’t afford four more years of letting the American dream fade. We can’t afford four more years of forgetting the middle class. We can’t afford four more years of George Bush policies with John McCain.

The time has come for a president who has lived the American dream, who is on our side. A president who will cut our dependence on foreign oil and lead us into the new energy frontier.

A president who will make us stronger and safer as Americans. A president who will make health care available to every American. A president who will make sure that no matter who you are, no matter where you’re from, if you work hard, you too can live the American dream.

That is the president that Barack Obama will be. That is why I proudly second the nomination of Barack Obama for President of the United States of America.

Thank you! God bless America!

Representative Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Florida

For more than 15 years, I’ve been proud to serve the people of South Florida, represented here in a fully-seated Florida delegation. Like so many Americans, like all Democrats, including all of us who campaigned for Hillary Clinton, whose campaign I was proud to co-chair, I know what’s at stake in this election. So don’t be fooled by any political ad from John McCain.

No matter where we stood at the beginning of this campaign, Democrats stand together today.

We believe passionately in Barack Obama’s message of changing the direction of our country.

We support enthusiastically his plans to restore the American dream for American families.

And we stand united, proudly, in our determination to elect Barack Obama. And so, I second his nomination as the next President of the United States of America.

I’m a mother of three young children: my 5-year-old daughter Shelby and my 9-year-old twins Rebecca and Jake. Recently, Jake blurted out: “Mom, when George Bush was elected, I was 1 year old.” My children have lived their whole lives under the failed policies of George Bush.

And if John McCain is elected, they’ll live their whole childhood under more of the same.

Instead of John McCain, a candidate who thinks that American families are “better off,” we need a president, Barack Obama, who knows better, who will give a tax cut – $1,000 every year – to middle-class families so you can pay the bills, afford quality health care, buy a home, and save for retirement.

Instead of a candidate who voted against giving women equal pay for equal work and who says Roe v. Wade should be overturned, we need a president, Barack Obama, who will fight to end the gender wage gap and who will protect a woman’s right to choose.

Instead of a candidate who votes against funds for education, against Head Start for children, against Pell Grants for college, we need a president, Barack Obama, who will invest in early childhood education, recruit new teachers, and make college more affordable with tax credits in exchange for community service.

That’s the change America deserves, the change Barack Obama will deliver, not just for the privileged few, but for all Americans, men and women, our sons and daughters. It’s been said that “children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.” I cannot imagine a more inspiring message than the one my son will someday send to his children: “I was 9 years old when Barack Obama was elected President of the United States of America.”

Representative Artur Davis, Alabama

I’m honored to second the nomination of the man whose victory tonight takes us closer to becoming what we know America can be: a place where who you are, what you have and where you come from pose no permanent barriers; where our destiny is what our God and our dreams determine it to be.

In a cavernous auditorium in Birmingham, Alabama, this past January, I heard Barack Obama tell my state that our generation can find its way again. I heard him tell my state on a Sunday afternoon that if you really want to see a politics of faith and morality, you’ll find it in a politics with an abiding conviction for the fate of the least and the lost among us.

I heard him remind my red state that there is no such thing as a Democratic way or Republican way to build strong families; that work and personal responsibility are Democratic standards, too; that to sustain our veterans and protect our soldiers is neither a liberal value nor a conservative value, but an American value. Because the men and women who wear the American uniform and fight under the American flag belong not to some of us, but to all of us.

And I saw a band of people, 20,000 strong, who don’t live together, don’t send their children to school together, who have no history of voting together, linked in a common cause together, ready to take action together.

And ladies and gentlemen, this is our cause: a president and a country who will lead and inspire the free world; who will stand for the rule of law; who will remember that torture is the way of the people who hate us and not our way. Our cause is a president and a country who will affirm that terrorism can never win, unless it warps us and makes us forget who we are and what we are.

Ladies and gentlemen, 20 years ago, I watched the Democratic Convention on a little TV in a tiny motel room in Montgomery, Alabama. My mother and grandmother and I were forced to live in that room for three weeks because our home had been foreclosed. The fact that I could go from a foreclosure and watching the convention in a tiny motel room to standing before you and the nation 20 years later nominating the next President of the United States tells you very little about me, but tells us everything that is right about our country.

My fellow Democrats, my fellow Americans, I have never seen a moment like this. I have never seen a sense of urgency like this. In my 40 years, I have never seen my country as energized as this. As our next president has said, from the places where people hurt to the places where people dream, “our time is now.”

Residents of Florida and many other states are deeply affected by natural disasters, struggling not only in the aftermath of tornados and hurricanes but from day to day under the burden of rising property insurance costs. Hurricanes in 2004 and 2005 in Florida caused some Floridians' property insurance rates to triple by 2007. Yet when discussing catastrophic insurance, McCain said, "If people are going to build homes where hurricanes hit, they have to assume a great part of that liability." He added helpfully, "We don't have that many hurricanes that hit Arizona."

Americans want - and need -- change, but McCain is offering more of the same failed Bush policies that have left residents of Florida and other at-risk states burdened by soaring insurance rates and struggling after natural disasters.

Of course, McCain isn't the only one who will face tough questions about his opposition to the CAT fund during his trip -- Governor Crist will also have to answer questions about how he so strongly supports a candidate who stands in such strong opposition to a key state priority. Crist is a strong supporter of the CAT fund, championing it consistently and even testifying before the US Senate Banking Committee, saying, "A federal catastrophe fund would provide protection for American homeowners throughout the nation" and stating that a CAT fund would strengthen insurance markets.

MCCAIN'S REVERSALS ON A NATIONAL CATASTROPHIC INSURANCE FUND

First, He Implied He Had An Open Mind…

October 2007: Mac Is Back? McCain Now Back on the Insurance Bandwagon? Meeting with Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida, McCain "said he was interested in Crist's effort to create a national catastrophic-insurance fund to cope with major disasters like monster hurricanes or earthquakes." [The News-Press (Fort Myers, Florida), 10/2/07]

Then, Crist Praised McCain For His Support Of The Fund…

March 2007: McCain On Board With Gov. Crist's Idea of National Catastrophic Insurance Fund. In March 2007, Gov. Charlie Crist "praised McCain for his support of Florida issues such as a national catastrophic fund for disasters." [Palm Beach Post, 3/28/07]

But McCain Reversed Himself Again…

January 2008: McCain Refused To Support National Catastrophic Insurance Fund. In a speech in Coral Gables, Florida, McCain suggested that the government should do more to bolster FEMA and rejected the National Catastrophic Insurance Fund. McCain said, "I do not support a national catastrophic insurance policy… That insurance policy is there and it's called FEMA and it's called national disaster preparedness...I still do not have confidence that FEMA is capable of handling those responsibilities." [Miami Herald, Naked Politics Blog, 1/21/08]

Now, He's Bragging About His Opposition.

February 2008: McCain Bragged About His Opposition To A National Catastrophic Insurance Fund. In his speech to CPAC, McCain highlighted his opposition to the national insurance fund, bragging, "I campaigned in Florida against the national catastrophic insurance fund bill that passed the House of Representatives..." [John McCain CPAC Remarks As Prepared For Delivery, 2/7/08]

HIGHLIGHTS FROM MCAIN'S OPPOSITION TO A NATIONAL CATASTROPHIC INSURANCE FUND

McCain Says People Who Live "Where Hurricanes Hit" Should "Assume a Great Party of that Liability." As reported by the Tampa Tribune, "The Arizona senator has long opposed the creation of a national fund to help insurers cover catastrophic damage from natural disasters. "If people are going to build homes where hurricanes hit, they have to assume a great part of that liability," he once explained. "We don't have that many hurricanes that hit Arizona.'" [Tampa Tribune, 7/29/08]

McCain Opposes A National Catastrophic Insurance Fund, Even Though Some Of His Supporters Backed It. "McCain also faced criticism for opposing a national catastrophic insurance fund for hurricane-prone states. Democrats noted that Crist, who gave McCain a critical boost by endorsing him just before the Florida primary last January, had lobbied congress for the fund. His predecessor as governor, Jeb Bush, also backed the fun. … McCain has said he would instead bring industry and government together to protect homeowners. His spokesman, Tucker Bounds, said Thursday that the government-run fund would ignore the need for reforms of the private insurance market to make sure everyone can get coverage." [Miami Herald, 6/5/08]

McCain Withholds Backing For National Disaster Fund. Concerning the proposed national disaster fund, McCain "is resisting calls to back the program. 'This is a very large federal program,' and the only state currently in a position to benefit is Florida, said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Mr. McCain's policy director. … Mr. McCain, who opposed the federal catastrophe plan, received $690,000 from individuals in the insurance industry, $9,000 from Allstate employees and $21,000 from employees of State Farm." [Associated Press Financial Wire, 6/2/08]

April 2007: Bush Administration Stated Opposition to National Catastrophic Insurance Fund. The Tampa Tribune reported in April 2007 that the Bush administration opposed the creation of a national catastrophic insurance fund: "The Bush administration said Wednesday it opposes a national catastrophic insurance fund, even as Gov. Charlie Crist and Florida's two U.S. senators urged a congressional panel to help create one. … But Edward Lazear, chairman of the White House's Council of Economic Advisers, testified that the Bush administration thinks catastrophic risk insurance at the federal level, 'although well intentioned, would have significant adverse consequences on the economy, and would be unfair.'" The Tribune's editorial board later wrote that "the administration's uncompromising opposition is disappointing. The creation of an emergency fund deserves a hearing in Congress, and the president need not get in the way." [Tampa Tribune, 4/12/07; "President Should Stay Out Of Fight To Create Federal Disaster Fund," Editorial, Tampa Tribune, 4/14/07; Testimony of Edward P. Lazear, Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers Before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, 4/11/07, http://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/lazear20070411.pdf]

CRIST CHAMPIONS NATIONAL CATASTROPHIC INSURANCE FUND

Crist Cites Cat Fund as Way to Ensure "Protection for American Homeowners." In April 2007, Gov. Charlie Crist testified before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee where he called for the creation of a national catastrophic insurance fund: "The work of the Florida State Legislature has begun to address the insurance crisis in our state, but federal action is also necessary. I implore Congress to take the next step to ensure the affordability and availability of property insurance. … A federal catastrophe fund would provide protection for American homeowners throughout the nation. A national program would spread the risk across the country, thus strengthening our insurance markets. Capital for the plan could come from a portion of the property insurance premiums already collected by insurance companies. The funds could grow tax-free, provide the financial capability to cope with the catastrophic risk and allow affected regions the ability to recover more quickly from natural disasters. This federal backstop for insurers is an essential step to addressing the insurance crisis." [Testimony of Charlie Crist, Governor of Florida, before Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, 4/11/07, http://banking.senate.gov/public/_files/crist.pdf]

Tampa Tribune: "Crist Leads Push For U.S. Disaster Fund." "The Bush administration said Wednesday it opposes a national catastrophic insurance fund, even as Gov. Charlie Crist and Florida's two U.S. senators urged a congressional panel to help create one. 'We have a national defense in this country to protect us from foreign invasion. That makes sense,' said Republican Crist, pressing his case before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Development. 'Wouldn't it make just as much sense to have a fund to protect us from natural disaster?' Crist said. 'Don't we have a duty to protect our people, whether it's from a foreign invasion or from a natural catastrophe?' But Edward Lazear, chairman of the White House's Council of Economic Advisers, testified that the Bush administration thinks catastrophic risk insurance at the federal level, 'although well intentioned, would have significant adverse consequences on the economy, and would be unfair.'" ["Crist Leads Push For U.S. Disaster Fund," Tampa Tribune, 4/12/07]

MCCAIN BRINGS MORE OF THE SAME FAILED BUSH-MCCAIN POLICIES TO FLORIDA

Unemployed Up 61%. The number of unemployed workers in Florida has increased by 61% under President Bush. The number of unemployed has gone up from 316,059 in January of 2001 and preliminary figures for June of 2008 are 507,582, an increase of 191,523 workers, or 61%. The unemployment rate similarly increased from 4% to 5.5%. [Local Area Unemployed Statistics, (Seasonally Adjusted), Bureau of Labor Statistics, accessed 7/20/08, data.bls.gov]

Income Stagnant. Median household income in Florida only increased from $44,415 in 2000 to $45,038 in 2006, a difference of $623 per household. [Joint Economic Committee Fact Sheet, 8/29/07, (Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce), jec.senate.gov]

Some Floridians' Property Insurance Rate Tripled from 2004 to 2007. As reported by the New York Times, "But while Mr. Crist, a Republican, and the Republican-dominated Legislature said last week that they were committed to significant across-the-board rate reductions, reality proved more complicated. South Floridians covered by the state-run insurer of last resort because private companies refuse to insure their homes will see the smallest savings -- as little as 8 percent. Their insurance costs have as much as tripled since 2004, forcing many people to consider leaving Florida." [New York Times, 1/27/07]