Warming up the room of about 300 Republican activists gathered Saturday in Orlando, state party chairman Jim Greer asked, "Is it a great day to be a Republican in the state of Florida?''
Well, not exactly.
President-elect Barack Obama's victory plowed new ground for the Democratic party. Last week, the GOP lost its best hope of holding on to a U.S. Senate seat in 2010 when former Gov. Jeb Bush said he won't run. And one of the party's top leaders in Tallahassee, House Speaker Ray Sansom, is caught up in a conflict-of-interest scandal over ties to his local community college.
But the party fared better in Florida than in other states in 2008, losing only one seat in Congress and another in the Legislature. Gov. Charlie Crist remains popular, despite the tanking economy. And Greer was handily reelected chairman.
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