Lieberman Visits Contested Florida

With two new polls confirming that the presidential race is a dead heat, the Democratic ticket bored in Sunday on a state once thought to be safe ground for Republican George W. Bush, even as the Texas governor prepared for a stylistic shift in his campaign.

Campaigning in southern Florida, Democratic vice presidential nominee Joseph I. Lieberman told 100 donors that he and running mate Al Gore can carry the state’s 25 electoral votes.

“The wind is at our back at this point, and we’re very encouraged by that,” Lieberman said at a Bal Harbour fund-raiser. “There’s been a great turnaround.”

The fact that Florida is competitive illustrated the turnaround about which the senator from Connecticut crowed. The Bush campaign has long considered Florida a linchpin of its strategy--and has in its camp the candidate’s brother, Gov. Jeb Bush. Republicans have generally won presidential contests here, except for Bob Dole’s defeat in 1996. Yet recent polls have put the Democrats slightly ahead in Florida.

Lieberman took pains to insist that the Democrats were not overconfident about winning the state, where even opponents have a healthy regard for Jeb Bush’s organizational skills. “This is still a close race, nationally and here in Florida,” Lieberman cautioned. “I can’t tell you how important this state is.”

Even if Bush eventually carries Florida, the current switch in circumstances has tactical ramifications for the remainder of the election. Today, for example, Gore will campaign in the hotly contested upper Midwest, where a handful of states may well determine the election. Bush will be in Florida, trying to buttress his lagging support.

Bush himself is trying to retool his campaign this week, much as he did after his defeat by Sen. John McCain of Arizona in the spring’s South Carolina primary. Now, as then, Bush has unveiled a new slogan--this time, “real plans for real people”--and announced that he will spend more time answering questions from voters and less addressing rallies of the faithful.

Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said the focus this week will be on issues voters typically associate with Democrats--health care, conservation and education. He also said that Bush’s imperative is to draw a contrast between himself and Gore.

“We’re going to take a good, hard look at [Gore’s] specifics, because what you see you’re not going to like, the more you look,” Fleischer said.

Among Bush’s stops this week will be Southland events in Orange County, Pomona and San Diego, where he will talk about educational achievement. Gore, too, will focus on education this week, including a daylong jaunt through part of Ohio in a school bus Tuesday.

The stakes for Bush’s stylistic changes were made clear anew Sunday with the release of two new polls showing the race a toss-up. The polls, by Time magazine and NBC, echoed the results of a survey released Saturday by the Gallup organization. Another poll, by Newsweek magazine, has Gore with a lead in single digits.

No matter the point spread, however, the reality for Bush is that his once-dominant lead has disappeared. On Sunday morning’s talk shows, Republicans admitted to a little hand-wringing over the ominous drop in popularity for Bush, who had consistently led Gore since the race began.

“There are some Republicans that are nervous about this, and we should be nervous,” Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, the House majority whip, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We should be focused and nervous and carry this fight all the way to the election.”

On CBS’ “Face the Nation,” the head of the nonpartisan presidential commission organizing the candidates’ debates said that Bush and Gore negotiators would meet Thursday to hammer out an agreement on the sessions.

Late last week, Bush capitulated in his battle against formal presidential debates, but it is still unclear whether all three planned by the commission will take place. The debates were scheduled for Oct. 3, 11 and 17, after the Olympics eases its domination of the airwaves.

Commission head Janet Brown said Sunday that while the debate sites are largely set, the formats are up for discussion.

Fleischer said Bush negotiators would meet “with an open mind,” but he said it was their priority to avoid a formal format that could benefit the debate-tested Gore.

“We think voters are better served by a format that lends itself to spontaneity,” Fleischer said.

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Gold reported from the Lieberman campaign and Finnegan from the Bush campaign. The article was written in Los Angeles by Times political writer Cathleen Decker. Times staff writer Janet Hook also contributed to this story.