The results of the 2012 presidential race have made one thing perfectly clear: In 2016, a Floridian will be on the Republican presidential ticket, either as the standard-bearer or as the vice- presidential nominee.
Florida is a state Republicans can't afford to lose if they expect to capture the presidency. If Florida's junior senator, Marco Rubio, had been on the ballot with Mitt Romney, Republicans probably would have carried the Sunshine State and its 29 electoral votes. Democrats carried the state by less than a percentage point.
Rubio had the good sense to realize he wasn't quite ready for a presidential run. He's also one of the smartest politicians out there, and probably the GOP's best communicator since Ronald Reagan. Like the Gipper, he has the capacity to explain conservative principles in simple, non-threatening terms. Plus, he's Hispanic, and unless the GOP starts capturing more of the growing Hispanic vote, demographics will doom it as a party.
Hispanic heritage by itself isn't enough, but coupled with sensible immigration policies, having an Hispanic on the ticket could go a long way in closing the gap with Democrats.
But, there's another Floridian who also could help turn the electoral tide for Republicans in 2016, and that's Jeb Bush. The former Florida governor left office in 2007 with a sky-high approval rating. Fluent in Spanish, he reached out to Hispanics, and was rewarded with half the Hispanic vote.
Among the Bush brothers, Jeb is the brains of the family. The presidential nomination could be his if he wants it. The question is, does he want it?
In the counting of votes, Florida didn't embarrass itself this year as badly as it did in the 2000 election, when the state won the appellation of Flor-i-duh. But that's only because President Obama won so many other states he didn't need Florida's electoral votes for victory. Had the election come down to Florida, the world's attention once more would have been focused on the Sunshine State.
A big reason for voter confusion and long lines during both early voting and on Election Day was the laundry list of 11 ballot issues, drafted in language that only can be learned in law school.
Floridians had the good sense several years ago to enact a constitutional amendment requiring state ballot issues to receive a 60-percent vote for passage. The idea behind requiring a supermajority was to keep Florida from descending into the chaos of California, where ill-considered, but successful ballot issues have helped drive the state toward financial ruin.
Eight of the Florida ballot issues failed. A couple were put on the ballot because of the whim of legislative leaders, and they were defeated handily. With such a long and complicated list of proposed amendments, the inclination of many people was to vote "no" simply out of pique.
Legislators insulted voters by putting so many issues on the ballot, most of which had little chance of gaining even 50 percent of the vote, let alone 60 percent. Lets hope they learned from their mistake.
In Broward County, voters chose President Obama by 2-to-1. That's not surprising for a county in which Democrats outnumber Republicans by a similar ratio. Unfortunately, the big turnout doomed one of the most competent people on the ballot. Sheriff Al Lamberti, a Republican, outpolled Mitt Romney by 15 points but still lost to Democrat Scott Israel.
Lamberti rose through the ranks. He brought a high level of professionalism to a department racked by scandal. Broward has had 17 sheriffs, and Lamberti ranks as second to none in competence. Lamberti lost because plenty of voters, who knew nothing about the race, voted a straight party line.
It's time to make the sheriff a non-partisan position to diminish the possibility of a travesty like this happening again.
Kingsley Guy's column appears every other Sunday. Email him at Harborlite3@bellsouth.net.
