Of all the toss-up states, it was probably the one most likely to go to the GOP next to NC and the democrats won the state. Chuck Todd's analysis showed five things:
1) I-4 Corridor- Obama swamped Romney, especially with the Puerto Rican vote
2) Hispanics- Obama swamped Romney (the story in CO and across the country)
3) Cubans- Obama performed the best of any democrat with that demographic
4) Young Voters- Like in 2000, 2004 and 2008, the democrats crushed the Republicans
5) GOP turnout didn't appear to be depressed
Some Republicans seem to be writing the FL loss off as turnout (i.e. the GOP voters thought the race was over and didn't bother to show), but for 29 EVs in my opinion, this was a significant win for the Democrats. Similar to OH, there is almost no path to 270 going forward for the Republicans without FL and while locally the state is dominated by Republicans, the democrats are going to slowly take this gold mine of EVs and political power away from the GOP too.
Opinions?
Serious concern...
1, The I-4, which the GOP needs to be a swing area, is now leaning Democratic due to a growing Puerto Rican population. Hillsborough and Pinellas were several points more Dem than the state at large
2. See point 1, and I'll add that Miami is less Cuban than it was 20 years ago, and Florida Cubans actually split almost evenly, depending on what exit poll you look at. Castro isn't the same boogeyman he once was
3. See point 2, also Florida Cubans who don't live in Miami are more likely to be swing voters
4. Young voters is a nationwide concern for the GOP, not just a Floridian concern
5. The GOP actually has a very good ground game in FL (built by Jeb). They turned out their voters better in FL than in other swing states, and still lost
