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For Romney Campaign, South Tampa is Key Location

Florida's much-touted importance in the presidential election has roots in South Tampa.

Common sense apparently trumps bad karma in the Mitt Romney campaign. Even though it selected the same office space for its Florida headquarters that John McCain used during his unsuccessful 2008 presidential bid, and even though Romney has suffered an early defeat to a party rival whose last name is almost identical to McCain’s, you’ll hear no sounds of woeful déjà vu from the Romney camp. Nor from observers inside and outside of the Republican party.

“We all know that it’s all about Florida,” Deborah Cox-Roush, chairman of the Hillsborough County Republican Party, said in speculating as to why the Romney campaign set up shop right where South Tampa meets downtown. “We have a saying - if you don’t win Tampa, you don’t win the I-4 corridor. If you don’t win the I-4 corridor, you don’t win Florida. And you can’t win the White House without winning Florida.”

Indeed, the political punditsphere has been dense with declarations of Florida’s importance in the 2012 presidential campaign. But the strategic significance of the Romney headquarters’ location - on the ground floor of the Parkside at One Bayshore highrise at Platt Street and Bayshore Boulevard – gets more local than that.

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South Tampa has a tradition of low transient, affluent demographics, and resultant high political and voter participation. These factors have made it increasingly coveted territory for elections, local and otherwise.  

“As chairman (of the Hillsborough Republican Party),” said Cox-Roush, “I can say that South Tampa is very, very important to our success. My volunteer base is huge in South Tampa. It’s just always been a very politically active area. Without the support of South Tampa, we can’t carry Hillsborough County.”

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And in that vein, “Hillsborough County is often seen as the best predictor as to how Florida will vote at large, “said University of South Florida political science professor Susan MacManus. “That’s because it’s got the three geographical categories that the candidates look for – rural, urban and suburban. Focus groups come a lot to Hillsborough.”

As for South Tampa in particular, MacManus said, “I know that it’s a high turnout area. And I know those people there donate a lot of money.”

And so a flowchart for presidential victory emerges: win South Tampa, then Hillsborough County, then the I-4 corridor, then Florida, then the White House.

It could seem a little fanciful in these early stages of the campaign, but by no means far-fetched to someone like Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams. “It’s an important, key location in the state,” he said of the Tampa headquarters. “It allows us to have access to our supporters, to our volunteers. From there it’s easy to get around the state. And Governor Romney intends to run a vigorous campaign in Florida and have a presence across the state.”

 

 

 

Mitt Romney Florida campaign headquarters

Parkside at One Bayshore 142 W Platt St Tampa, FL 33606 813-490-2626

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