Reply #25: Democrats are already showing up in big numbers in FL. [View All]

AP) Florida's presidential primaries could almost be decided by the time most polling places open next week.

That's because early voting started Jan. 14 and absentee ballots started hitting the mail last month. Half a million people or more may have voted before primary day actually gets here Jan. 29 - a candidate who reaches those early birds could build a formidable lead.

That has some Republican candidates trying different strategies to reach voters who aren't waiting to cast their ballots (the Democrats aren't campaigning here because it moved up its primary in violation of both parties' rules). There are Web sites, rallies and mailers pushing early voting.

"There's no playbook on this because it hasn't been done in Florida," said David Johnson, a GOP strategist and former executive director of the Republican Party of Florida. "The campaigns are trying to learn as they go along what that playbook might be."

More than a third of the votes cast in Florida in the 2004 general election were cast early or by mail, taking advantage of a 2000 rule change allowing absentee ballot requests without having to prove that voting in person would be a hardship. As of mid-January, more than 176,000 Democrats and more than 225,000 Republicans had requested absentee ballots.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/21/politics/main3734796.shtml