Maybe it's the chilly weather, or maybe Gov. Crist's order extending the voting hours, or maybe most people who wanted to vote early have already done so, but the waiting lines for early voting in Florida are dramatically shorter this morning.
UPDATE Lines getting longer in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach County.
UPDATE 2 Wow, lines back up to 4 hours in Broward, Palm Beach, and Miami-Dade. Guess it was just a slow start due to the morning cold weather. With the extended hours, the final turnout should be tremendous.
Yesterday all polling stations had lines over an hour, some as long as 4 hours. This morning, several places in Miami-Dade are reporting waits of 0 to 15 minutes. Here in Broward, there are stations with 0 to 30 minute waits.
Barack and Joe Biden are both here in Florida for what could be a pivotal day in the race. The big news is that a portion of Barack's 30-minute TV spot at 8pm tonight will be live from the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise. This is the home of the NHL Florida Panthers, I saw him there a month or two ago, when he drew about 12,000 people. I'm guessing it will be full tonight.
After leaving Sunrise, Barack will go to Kissimmee for a late night joint rally with Bill Clinton.
Joe is appearing with Caroline Kennedy in Jupiter:
Hundreds of Barack Obama and Joe Biden supporters shrugged off a cold spell and filed into the Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter for an early voting rally. Sen. Joe Biden is scheduled to address voters 10:15 a.m. this morning to pump up voters less than a week before Election Day. Several voters in the stadium's stands had already voted, and simply showed up to support the Democratic ticket.
Other Florida election news:
Republicans plan to drop anti-Obama political propoganda into children's Halloween candy bags.
The GOP-leaning Cuban American Federation has endorsed Obama.
McCain is also in Florida, as part of his (no joke) "Joe the Plumber Tour," with signs telling voters to "Flush Marxism". He attracted a crowd in the "hundreds" to a West Miami lumber yard this morning. Gov. Crist, Sen. Martinez, and the Diaz-Balart brothers spoke.
Warming up the McCain crowd, one GOP candidate claimed that only tax cheaters, including his opponent, support Obama:
Jorge Luis Lopez, a Republican running for state house District 107, said "We know why Democrats are supporting Obama's tax plan," he said. "Most of them don’t pay taxes and the rest of them cheat on them." Apparently, that includes his opponent, Democrat Luis Garcia. "My opponent...cheats on his taxes," he said. "That's why he supports Obama's tax plan."
ABC's Good Morning America is broadcasting live from Church Street Station in Orlando.