Sunshine State Clouds
Keller says his constituents are increasingly concerned about crime, partly because murders and robberies have risen sharply here. "It's the No.1 issue for me personally," he tells U.S. News. "I cannot have people feeling unsafe." He is urging Congress to pay for thousands of new police recruits across the country, hoping to revive a program enacted under President Bill Clinton.
Back at the farmers' market at New York and Lyman avenues in Winter Park, Larry Eisenberg, 54, is selling "gourmet olive tapenade" for $12 per 8-ounce jar. "The whole political process has turned me off" because so few politicians tell the truth, says Eisenberg, a slender man wearing a green T-shirt. "Iraq was a mistake," he adds. "It's time to move on." In dealing with the war, Bush won't admit error, and he seems like "an old dog with a rag in his mouth, and the more you pull on the rag, the more he clamps down," Eisenberg says.
Nearby, Denise Stone, a cheery 52-year-old wearing a green apron as she sells candy apples, says she is concerned about local problems such as traffic. But she adds that Iraq is her top priority. "There's only one issue there—get out," says Stone. "Bush lied."
Other voters in the district may disagree with her harsh assessment, but they share Stone's frustration with a war they think has gone on too long. In a district as crucial as Florida's Eighth, that could spell big trouble for the GOP.
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