A parade of presidential surrogates will be stumping in South Florida

Monday, the final full day of campaigning for the 2012 presidential campaign, brings a flurry of surrogates stumping in South Florida for President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

Romney will join the Romney-Ryan Real Recovery Road Rally in Sanford on Monday afternoon.

Obama, who was in Hollywood on Sunday, won’t be in Florida on Monday. But his wife, first lady Michelle Obama, will be in Orlando.

Here’s a scorecard:

•  Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will be outside of the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections office in Doral with the Obama campaign to “encourage local residents to Vote Now!” at 9:30 a.m.

•  Republican National Committee Co-Chair Sharon Day will be in Pompano Beach at 11:30 a.m. for a Get-Out-The-Vote event.

•  Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Gov. Jeb Bush are scheduled to attend a Get-Out-The-Vote Event at Broward College in Davie, beginning at 1 p.m.

•  Bush will team up with U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, former U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Adam Putnam, and Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll for another Get-Out-the-Vote event in Hialeah, beginning at 3:30 p.m.

•  First Lady Michelle Obama attends a Democratic rally in Orlando at 6 p.m.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/05/3082651/presidential-surrogates-blanket.html#storylink=cpy

 

Miami-Dade commissioner's ex-aide involved in Hialeah ballot scandal: I didn't know I was breaking the law

Anamary Pedrosa, the young law school student involved in Hialeah’s absentee-ballot brokering scandal, swore to authorities that she was not aware of the Miami-Dade County ordinance forbidding the collection of absentee ballots by intermediaries — even though the measure was cosponsored by her own boss, County Commissioner Esteban Bovo.

Pedrosa, 25, admitted, however, that she did her best to hide the ballots that well-known ballot-brokers, or boleteros, in Hialeah handed her systematically at one of Bovo’s offices. She even carried them from the office to her car in plastic bags, wrapped in newspapers to hide them from view.

Pedrosa explained to Miami-Dade public-corruption prosecutor Tim VanderGiesen and Detective Joaquín García, from the Miami-Dade Police Department’s Public Corruption Unit, the role she played in the collection of 164 absentee ballots in Hialeah. Her statement, obtained by El Nuevo Herald, indicates that authorities did not interrogate the young woman as a suspect in the case of possible electoral fraud but as a lesser piece in a larger plot.

In exchange for her testimony, Pedrosa received immunity from prosecution. But on Aug. 10, the day after she was questioned, authorities arrested one of the best-known boleteros in Hialeah: Sergio Robaina, the uncle of former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina.

“I don’t know why Anamary snitched on me,” said Robaina, 74, after reading Pedrosa’s testimony. “I was stunned. It’s sad and painful.”

The testimony was made public last week as part of the criminal case against Robaina, who is accused of three felony charges of manipulating absentee ballots and two misdemeanor charges of violating the county ordinance. Pedrosa has not responded to El Nuevo Herald’s messages for comment on this and other stories. The house where she lives with her mother was closed and its shutters were drawn this week.

Her lawyer, Juan Carlos Planas, refused to comment on the interrogation, at which he was present, because he questioned El Nuevo Herald’s motive for running a story on the fraud case so close to the presidential election.

More from Enrique Flor and Melissa Sanchez here.

Pick your FL poll. Insider/Advantage: Romney up 5. PPP: Obama up 1

More polls on the presidential race in Florida were released today. And, again, we got more differing results:

From The Times Union's Insider/Advantage Poll:

Mitt Romney’s lead with independent voters has propelled him to a 5-point lead in Florida two days before election day, according to a Times-Union/InsiderAdvantage poll released Sunday night.

Likely/registered voters favored Romney 52 percent to 47 percent for Barack Obama, but Romney holds a 25-point lead with independent voters.

“Romney’s lead is made possible by the substantial advantage he enjoys among those who identify themselves as independent voters,” said InsiderAdvantage CEO Matt Towery. “Independent voters have been the determining factor in Florida political contests for many years.”

From Public Policy Polling, a firm that typically surveys for Democrats:

PPP's final polls of the cycle in Florida and North Carolina suggest that they may be the closest states in the country this year. In Florida Obama leads 50/49, but to be more specific 473 respondents chose Obama and 472 picked Romney. It's a similar story in North Carolina- the candidates are tied at 49 there based on rounded numbers, but if you break it out to decimal points Romney's up 49.4% to 49.2% with 457 respondents having chosen him to 455 for Obama. Both states are likely in for a long night on Tuesday.

PPP has conducted 4 polls in Florida over the last three weeks and found a 1 point race every time- Obama has been up slightly twice and Romney has been up slightly twice. There is a massive generational gap in the state with Romney leading 61/38 among seniors while Obama leads within every other age group. The Paul Ryan selection didn't hurt Romney with Florida seniors as some had thought it might. Obama's up 52/47 with women, 53/47 with Hispanics, and 91/9 with African Americans while Romney has a 53/47 edge with men and a 59/40 one with white voters.