Tampa, Florida Two weeks before the Iowa caucuses, it was difficult to drive or walk anywhere in Iowa for more than one minute without seeing some evidence of the ongoing political campaign. Today in Tampa, Florida, two days before the increasingly important Florida Republican primary, it is hard to turn your head without seeing … pirates. Although Mitt Romney was here this morning and John McCain is here tonight, the presidential campaign is (temporarily) an afterthought in this town dominated by Gasparilla 2008. The festival – a little Mardi Gras, a little Pirates of the Caribbean – is named for Jose Gaspar, a pirate who tormented travelers near Tampa Bay back in the late 18th century. The modern version features lots of really drunk men wearing pirate costumes and lots of really drunk women wearing almost nothing. (Go here for history, and here for photos of this year’s event.) The front pages of both the Tampa Tribune and the St. Petersburg Times feature coverage of Gasparilla, not the primary. In the lobby of the Waterside Marriott, I’m sitting next to a pair of wenches – that’s the technical term – wearing hats with large feathers, white off-the-shoulder shirts with poofy sleeves, short black skirts trimmed in gold and knee-high black leather boots. Across the lobby is a large group of “Rough Riders” – men wearing black cowboy hats, blue uniforms with yellow trim and yellow handkerchiefs around their necks. They look like kids who couldn’t decide whether to be cowboys or Webelos for Halloween, so they wore both. Everyone has a drink (or two, or in one case, four) and everyone is wearing colorful beads. I asked Suzy Welsh, a chiropractor dressed in the festive garb of the St. Brigit Krewe, whether she planned to vote on Tuesday. She looked at me like I was a moron. Welsh considers herself a Republican and would have been a Fred Thompson had he not dropped out. She’s not enthusiastic about the rest of the candidates. “Normally, I would say: ‘I love this guy!’ But not this year.” Although she respects Mitt Romney for his intellect, she says she’s a war on terror voter and will cast her ballot for John McCain. For what it’s worth, she says that despite this weekend’s distractions, virtually everyone she knows has voted (early or absentee) or plans to do so. For Floridians elsewhere who care to pay attention, there is a robust debate taking place in ahead of Tuesday’s vote. Earlier today, John McCain accused Mitt Romney (at first without naming him) of favoring a secret timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. Talking to reporters afterward, McCain made the accusation directly. “If we surrender and wave a white flag, like Sen. Clinton wants to do, and withdraw, as Gov. Romney wanted to do, then there will be chaos, genocide and the cost of American blood and treasure would be dramatically higher.” Romney, asked about McCain’s comment, denied the accusation and demanded an apology from McCain. McCain, in a statement, then suggested Romney apologize to U.S. troops in Iraq for advocating their withdrawal. “The only people who are owed an apology are the men and women fighting for our country in Iraq, who have a right to expect their leaders to stand by them and their mission not just when it is easy, but when it matters most – when it is hard.” McCain has for the most part avoided making such direct attacks. That he is doing so now, has some reporters wondering if he is nervous about his prospects here on Tuesday. McCain advisers, for their part, say that their candidate has long wanted to challenge Romney on the issue and say he was moved to do so after Romney suggested that McCain would not be a strong leader.
