Republican National Convention in Tampa shines light on Fla., a must-win in race for president

TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa is a hot property for the Republicans this year, and that doesn’t just mean the 90-degree temperatures in August that will begin to sauté national convention delegates every time they step outdoors.

There’s political heat here, too.

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The site of the Republican National Convention Aug. 27-30 is situated at the west end of the Interstate 4 corridor, home to the largest concentration of swing voters in the largest swing state.

It’s no coincidence, then, that the Republicans have placed their convention here; Mitt Romney desperately needs to win Florida if he is going to defeat President Barack Obama. The corridor, 132 miles of bustling highway from Tampa to Daytona Beach, cuts through Orlando and seven diverse central Florida counties still hurting from a recession that has been slow to loosen its grip here.

About a quarter of the state’s registered voters are in the Tampa TV market and local media coverage will be wall-to-wall for at least a week. Add the Orlando TV market, and the area encompasses 44 percent of all Florida voters. The pomp and grand ritual of a political convention in their own backyards could go a long way toward swaying undecided voters.

“Florida is a symbol that is well known to Republicans across the country,” said Susan MacManus, a University of South Florida political science professor. “If they can’t win Florida, they can’t win the White House back. It’s plain and simple. Even the Democrats will be tuned in to see how things are playing here.”

The region commonly referred to as “Tampa Bay” includes St. Petersburg, Clearwater and surrounding sprawl, a metro area of more than 3 million people as diverse as the nation itself. Most everybody here came from someplace else, drawn by the weather, pre-recession opportunities and cheap cost of living, bringing their attitudes and values with them.

Cuban and Puerto Rican influences are evident, from the many Cuban coffee and sandwich spots to the decent-sized Hispanic neighborhoods and many businesses serving them in west Tampa.

MacManus said a Tampa convention will give Republicans an opportunity to showcase the diverse faces of the party here, when typically the GOP is not known as the party of diversity. The GOP’s rising star happens to be U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American from Miami who will undoubtedly be highly visible during the convention.

“Putting a diverse face on the party is easier in Florida,” MacManus said.

The real estate crisis and recession took a mighty swipe at Florida, and the Tampa Bay area in particular, as new construction came to a standstill, housing prices plummeted and cash-strapped tourists began staying home. There has been improvement, but it lags behind most of the nation. Republicans will be trying to tap into that unrest.

“Holding the convention in Tampa allows us to begin organizing earlier and stronger than usual in Florida,” national Republican Party spokesman Matt Connelly said. “It gives us an opportunity to organize in the key market of Tampa, which is going to be important to victory in November, to get people on the ground talking to voters, get to know the community and spread our message of pro-growth economics that we’re going to be talking about throughout the campaign.”