Some partisan Democrats have been clamoring for former Vice President Al Gore or for Clinton, who is working behind the scenes to raise money for McBride and urging black ministers to get out the vote, to personally campaign in Florida. "William Jefferson Clinton energizes black voters -- period," says Bracy.

Even as late as this Wednesday there were still no plans for a Clinton visit. The unspoken assumption was that the McBride camp was concerned an appearance by Clinton would activate the black base but turn off crucial swing voters. "That's a mistake," insists Jim Eaton, a lawyer, lobbyist and longtime player in Florida Democratic politics. "Clinton is not that polarizing of a figure anymore." That logic came to prevail by Thursday: Clinton is now scheduled to appear at three get-out-the-vote rallies Saturday night and possibly make additional appearances Sunday morning. "He is a master at motivating Democrats," says the McBride campaign's Stonecipher.

That's the kind of news that keeps hope alive for McBride and his troops. It helps to keep the race competitive down to the wire. "If McBride has an effective, last-minute ad campaign -- something that grabs voters' attention and sways swing voters -- he can win," says Susan MacManus, a professor of political science at the University of South Florida. "But it's going to be tough."

Still, some observers are wondering whether it's already too late. McBride's performance in last week's debate was less than impressive. Then, some say, the press seemed to turn on him.

"He didn't deserve the pounding he took in the newspapers after the debate," says MacNamara, a veteran of state Republican politics. "The press likes to keep the race close, but in the end none of them want to cover a McBride governor. They want to cover a celebrity governor, the brother of the president of the United States. It's human nature."

Bush, with $12 million remaining from a $30 million campaign fund, meanwhile saturated the airwaves, labeling McBride a tax-and-spend threat. McBride, with only $1 million in the bank, had to hold his fire for the final push.

Before his batch of sharp new ads debuted, several Florida newspapers started a new round of polling. From McBride's perspective, the results were grim: Bush enjoys a lead of between six and eight points, his biggest margin in months.

Worse, the St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald poll showed Floridians picked Bush as the better candidate to improve public education in Florida. That result was startling, considering that McBride's entire campaign has centered on the classroom and his accusation that public education under Bush had tanked, with test scores falling and class sizes bulging.

"He's run the education issue into the ground and it hasn't moved the needle," notes Towery at InsiderAdvantage, who once served as Newt Gingrich's campaign chairman. Nonetheless, Towery says McBride's new ads paid dividends in overnight polling last weekend, and he dismisses talk that Bush has the election wrapped up. "I think it's going to be extraordinarily close," he says. "If I had to guess, I'd say right now Bush is at 47 and McBride 42, and everything else is up for grabs."

Yet those odds look longer today for McBride than they did two weeks ago. "Jeb was beatable. He's passing special-interest tax breaks for friends, cutting social services statewide, and the state surplus is gone," notes Miami Herald columnist Jim DeFede. "Coming out of the primary McBride had this image of a giant slayer, while Jeb fucked up left and right. But McBride never built up any momentum."

There's also a feeling that the down-home McBride, who has described his campaign for governor as a job interview, did not effectively take the fight to Bush, did not articulate a reason why voters should drive him out of office. "Jeb has all the king's horses and all the king's men, every weapon in the modern arsenal of politics," Eaton says. "If you're going to beat the juggernaut, you have to be aggressive. If Bill McBride comes up short on Election Day, it will be because he didn't get after Jeb Bush."

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