The bid for the White House has come down to a virtual two-way race for both Democrats and Republicans, with Florida becoming the decider for Rudy Guiliani (R) and John Edwards (D), who both threw in the towel after finishing third place in the Florida primary.

Now, the battle is on between Republicans John McCain, who won with 36 percent of the votes and Mitt Romney, who picked up 31 percent; and between Democrats Hillary Clinton (50 percent) and Barack Obama (33 percent). The Democratic primary was largely thought of as a ‘beauty contest’, since the Florida delegates will not be seated at the Democratic convention in August. Despite that fact, over 1.5 million Democrats voted in the primary, in accordance with projections made by Karen Thurman, chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party (FDP). This significant turnout could be a strong point in efforts being made by the FDP and Hillary Clinton for Florida delegates to be seated at the convention. If they are successful, Clinton would take 105 of the 210 delegates, and Obama, 70.

Republican candidate Mike Huckabee (R), who has not seen victory since the Iowa primary, is yet to bow out and may even have a chance of gaining more support as he goes into Super Tuesday.

On the Democratic side, Obama, riding on his South Carolina momentum, will try to cop some top spots in the states to vote on Super Tuesday. Clinton, who leads in many of those states, will try to hold come out on top. Clinton’s is hoping her win in Florida will be a morale boost for Super Tuesday, as Florida is historically a swing state, and can make or break a presidential hopeful.

Florida says yes to Amendment 1; Miami-Day says yes to slots

By a 64 to 36 percent vote, Floridians said yes to Amendment 1, the Governor Charlie Crist initiated property tax amendment. Amendment 1 will result in an average of $240 reduction in annual property tax, increase of $15,000 in the homestead exemption, and give homeowners the ability to transfer their tax savings to a new house.

Although a number of Caribbean voters interviewed by the National Weekly prior to the elections were not in favor of the amendment because they thought it could reduce revenue to schools, libraries, and the police, the amendment passed by a vote of well over the required 60 percent. In general, African Americans voted 6-4 in favor of the tax amendment. Crist had also endorsed the candidacy of John McCain, and there are rumors that Crist could be considered as McCain’s running mate if McCain is selected as the Republican candidate for the presidency.

In Miami-Dade, where voters were asked to vote in a referendum to introduce slot machines into that county, 63 percent voted in favor, despite strong opposition in some quarters. The introduction of the machines seems to be very popular among the Caribbean and African American communities in Miami-Dade. There is the viewpoint expressed by some members of these communities that with a percentage of the revenue from gambling on slot machines going to education, this could compensate for some of the loss of revenue schools could experience by the passing of the property tax amendment.