Elian Gonzalez- another deciding factor.

[DanielX]

I remember. I was living in Miami back then - and, like my largely Hispanic neighbors, was fervently pro-Elian (to be defined as 'pro-stay'). I could not believe that Reno and Klinton were actually considering shipping the kid back to a ing Communist Country . At the time, I really hated Reno's guts. I've moderated since then; now I merely think she was an imbecile and a tool to ship back one Cuban kid and do nothing about hundreds of thousands of Mexicans - I think it has to do with a left-wing fantasy about Castro's Cuba being some socialist paradise. Certainly Clinton was not taking family values into account - when did he ever?

That said, Reno and Clinton were smart to sit on the case a few months before arresting & deporting Elian - the tempers were tremendous. Had the arrest come in, say, March, there would've been riots in Miami. Possibly race riots - Miami's hispanics were very pro-stay and the blacks were pro-return. My mother told me that, even as it was, many black & hispanic office workers in her office did not speak to each other for months in the aftermath.

This almost certainly swayed enough votes to Bush to win Florida in 2000. I'm sure, in some circles amongst the Cubans in Miami, people still curse Clinton and Reno (perhaps literally amongst the Santeria community).