Republicans Ready to Battle in Florida

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. -- Tonight, the Sunshine State is a battleground.

Republican presidential hopefuls will field average Americans' questions in the CNN/Youtube debate in St. Petersburg, hoping to gain political ground in Florida - a notorious swing state with an early primary date--and across the United States.

CNN and YouTube are holding the debate at the University of South Florida's Mahaffey Theater. Perhaps reflecting the pivotal nature of this debate, an impressive array of demonstrators and media personnel have gathered outside the theater since Tuesday night.

Where do the candidates stand coming into Florida? In a CNN poll of 300 likely Republican primary voters in Florida taken two days before the debate, Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani led Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney by 21 points. However, only 32 percent of respondents have decided for sure who they will vote for in the Republican primaries.

Although Giuliani is trailing Romney in Iowa, he had a clear lead in every question CNN asked likely Republican primary voters. Florida is crucial to the former mayor's campaign strategy, so he has spent significant time campaigning here. Giuliani may also be ahead because of his views on abortion: he is pro-choice and less than one in five Floridians think abortion should be illegal in all circumstances.

Abortion and gay marriage are important to Floridians, but half said they might vote voting for a candidate who disagreed with them on those issues in the right circumstances. Giuliani is the only Republican candidate who supports abortion rights, though he has since embraced some of the restrictions he opposed as mayor.

Although Floridians consider moral issues such as abortion "hot button" issues, the demonstrators beyond the fences and police surrounding Mahaffey Theater seem to have different priorities.

From Ron Paul supporters to advocates for the homeless and disgruntled Democrats, Floridians from all over the state have congregated outside to get their views heard.

"It's a little scattered," Art Groveman, a coordinator of tonight's Ron Paul activities, said. "It's called grassroots." He expects that over 1,000 Paul supporters are in St. Petersburg tonight to vote in the two straw polls and meet their candidate.

However, the largest gathering outside the debate was organized by St. Pete for Peace, a group of St. Petersburg residents concerned about the future of America's foreign policy and economy. Some of their homeless members had been there since Sunday.

"Homelessness is a big issue, and it should be a big issue, whether the Republicans like it or not," Michael Douglas, a homeless St. Petersburg resident and member of St. Pete for Peace, said.

"The whole idea of being over there [in Iraq] is pure bunk," Vido Sowatka, a veteran of Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm, said. "We need more for the vets. We're left out here in the cold."

Others, like Scott Levison, are concerned about human rights abroad and at home.

"I came here because I felt like exercising my first amendment rights, which are often ignored," Levison said.

With questions asked by people like those outside, perhaps the CNN/YouTube debate will address issues previously unmentioned in Republican debates. The new debate format, which allows for questions to be asked in creative ways, has provoked some controversy in the past.

Tonight's debate was originally planned for September, but several of the leading Republican candidates, including Mitt Romney, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani, said they would not be able to attend due to "scheduling conflicts" and other reservations. Former Massachusetts Governor Romney was the most outspoken about the new debate format.

"I think from what I've heard, that level of respectfulness was breached," the presidential hopeful said on C-SPAN after the Democratic debate in July. "I don't know if it makes sense to have people running for president answering questions posed from snowmen."

Romney was referring to a Democratic debate question about global warming asked by a snowman.

The republican candidates became more open to the new debate format after Internet-savvy Republicans created online petitions encouraging the candidates to appear. Mike Huckabee even created a YouTube video in support of the debate.

Will Billiam the Snowman make a re-appearance tonight? Possibly. CNN has chosen tonight's questions from over 5,000 submitted on YouTube -- that's 2,000 more than were submitted for the Democratic CNN/YouTube debate in July. CNN expects to show around 40 questions during the broadcast, so one can expect the debate to cover a variety of issues.

However, the debate's executive producer David Bohrman told The New York Times that CNN will be selecting questions on issues where there are differences among the Republican candidates. Bohrman said that CNN would most likely not show questions regarding gay marriage and abortion.

The Republican primary candidates have not debated in more than a month; in the previous debate, candidates Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee's performances polled highest in CNN's post-debate survey. With the Iowa caucuses rapidly approaching, the stakes are high tonight. Tune in and see!