Democrat Jim Davis rallied Saturday with former President Bill Clinton in Miami, while Republican Charlie Crist declined to commit to joining the poll-sagging President Bush in Pensacola on the eve of Tuesday's election.With three days left in the governor's race, the two contenders traded jabs on the campaign trail while their supporters quietly unleashed television ads throwing far meaner punches.
Davis tried to hit all his marks: With polls showing Crist getting the bulk of the Hispanic vote, he tried to shore up support with a stop at the Versailles restaurant on Calle Ocho and a rally at Jose Martí Park in downtown Miami. He repeated campaign pledges to lower property taxes and insurance at the ''Ribfest'' carnival in Homestead and a ''backyard rebellion'' at a Key Largo home.
The rally with Clinton was a star-studded political affair with Democratic candidates and former and current officeholders. The party was outspent nearly three times over by the GOP, which dropped a record-setting $42 million in the past two months.''You need to think about between now and Tuesday going after every living soul you meet . . . and say you don't think Florida is for sale,'' Clinton told the crowd of roughly 900 at the Joseph Caleb Auditorium. ``You've got to roll back this massive tide of money and stand up to the attacks.''
Crist spent the day in Florida's midsection, a region rich with independent voters who can swing close elections. He provided only camera-friendly moments to the television crews trailing him all day, greeting supporters at his Tampa headquarters, canvassing a Puerto Rican neighborhood in Orlando and visiting waterfront homeowners in Ormond Beach.
''I'm an old football player,'' he told about 50 supporters at the Intracoastal home. ``We're at the two-minute warning. It's giddy-up time in this race.''
Wary of jeopardizing his lead at this stage in the campaign, Crist kept his appearances upbeat, fast-paced and clear of any controversy. Asked whether he had decided to join President Bush tomorrow, he said only: ``not yet.''
Crist refused to answer many questions from reporters, allowing his campaign entourage to whisk him quickly to photo opportunities with supporters. In Orlando and Ormond Beach, he was steered to homes that precinct walkers had determined were friendly.
EXCHANGING JABS
Crist unleashed a new line against Davis, almost as if it were his end-of-the-campaign cheer: ''If you want higher taxes, you vote for who? Jim Davis,'' he told his audience in Orlando. ``If you want lower taxes, you vote for who? Charlie Crist.''
Davis railed against Crist for taking millions of dollars from insurance companies at a time when homeowners are getting hit with huge bills.
``I will fight these special interests even more than they are fighting me right now,''
Davis said at the Miami park.
Meanwhile, the ad war played out on television. Davis supporters used soft money to put out a misleading ad in North Florida that aims to tarnish Crist with the scandal surrounding former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, who resigned after being confronted with lurid Internet messages he sent to teenagers.
The commercial, run by a secretive group called 21st Century Florida, levels a sinister accusation: that the FBI told Crist about ''his friend'' Foley months ago and that he did nothing. In Monday's televised debate, the state attorney general called the matter ''disgusting'' and said he's not part of the investigation, though he said his office offered assistance to the FBI.
Davis said he hadn't seen the ad but said it should come down.
''I've heard enough to know I don't like it,'' he said.
Davis himself is the target of a new attack ad by the GOP that says he ''met with terrorists'' and flashes a picture of Cuba's Fidel Castro and the late Yasser Arafat.
In 2003, Davis was the first member of Congress to make an official trip to Cuba since Castro came to power. He did not meet with Castro. He met with other government officials and leading dissidents. Davis talked to Arafat during a trip to the Middle East but also met with then-Israeli leader Ariel Sharon.
''It's to educate the electorate about Jim Davis going to meet Yasser Arafat in his compound and going to Castro's Cuba,'' said Crist's campaign manager George LeMieux.
''They're giving half truths,'' said Joe Garcia, former executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation, who helped organize Davis' trip to Cuba.
The Democratic party is fighting back with about $250,000 in Spanish-language television and radio ads airing in Miami. The party also is sending out hard-hitting mailers in Spanish to voters in South Florida, Tampa and Orlando.
The mailers attach Crist to President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Foley. They also try to stir outrage over the Iraq war with haunting photos of empty military boots and flag-draped coffins.
PARTIES' PIGGY BANKS
Big donors to the GOP include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which kicked in nearly $2 million, and $1.2 million from the Republican Governors Association. Greg Eagle, a Cape Coral developer whose son works for the Crist campaign, donated $250,000, while an independent group he helped bankroll gave $1.1 million. Florida's gambling industry -- including the state's two Indian tribes -- donated nearly $1 million since September.
Another donor: Florida Power & Light. Despite Crist saying he did not want the utility giant to give money to the party because ''they tried to take me out'' in the primary, the company gave $170,000 to the GOP.
Top contributors to the Democratic party included national party committees, unions and trial lawyers.
