Elections 2002: Fla5 fighting in new spot

(Part of UPI's Special Report on Election 2002)

BROOKSVILLE, Fla. (UPI) -- Democrat Karen Thurman has won four straight elections in Florida's 5th Congressional District, but to win her fifth she will have to overcome the Florida Legislature, and maybe even the White House.

The Republican dominated Legislature remapped the 5th Congressional District with an eye toward putting one of their own in the U.S. House. Thurman should have no complaints, since she did the same thing in 1992.

Thurman's opponent is State Sen. Ginny Brown-Waite, 59, of Brooksville, Fla., the first woman president of the state Senate, and she's been getting plenty of help. She has already had aid from Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert of Illinois and House Majority Whip Tom Delay of Texas, bringing the Republican message to the voters in the central Florida District and helping her raise funds.

President Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney may be in the wings.

"This seat is obviously important to the president," Brown-Waite said.

Thurman, the sixth woman to serve on the House Ways and Means Committee in its 213-year history, has lost much of her Democratic base around Gainesville, Fla., home of the University of Florida. In her new district Al Gore would have won only 45 percent of the vote in 2000.

"There are people in this district that don't know us," said Thurman, 51. "Our strategy will be to get our message out there in the best mediums available to reach the most people. It will be a grass roots campaign."

Registered Republicans now make up 42 percent of the voters in the district to 41 percent for the Democrats. Counting the votes from the 2000 presidential election, Democratic Vice President Al Gore won the old district, and President Bush would have won the new district.

"It's going to be very competitive," said Brown-Waite, outgoing Florida Senate President pro tem. "Thurman is the incumbent but never before has the (Republican) party gotten behind a challenger for her seat."

Brown-Waite hopes to carry a conservative agenda to Washington.

"As your next congresswoman, I will take to Washington the same common-sense, conservative values that I brought to Tallahassee," she said.

"In Congress, I will continue to support lower taxes, will vote to protect and strengthen Social Security, and I will fight to rebuild the armed forces so we will win the war on terror," she said.

Thurman says throughout her tenure, she has worked to improve access to quality health care for all Americans, and advocated consistently for greater tax relief for working families.

She says she has been "a strong independent voice in defending the freedoms guaranteed to the American people under the U.S. Constitution."

(Reported by Les Kjos in Miami)