Obama to focus on Florida

Barack Obama's campaign announced this afternoon that it will put a full-court press on Florida, the scene of Democratic presidential nightmares, with the help of former rivals Hillary Clinton and Bill Richardson.

Obama, his wife Michelle, Clinton, and Richardson will crisscross the state Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to encourage voters to cast their ballots early. That could be one way to avoid the long lines and other problems on Election Day that became a central part of the meltdown in 2000 that many Democrats believe cost Al Gore the White House.

Florida is among several battleground states where voters can go to the polls well in advance of Nov. 4. In Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina and Ohio, Democrats -- or at least those living in heavily Democratic areas -- are requesting and submitting ballots in large numbers, the Associated Press reports. In Florida, Republicans hold an edge, while in Indiana, absentee voting has been split among Republican and Democratic areas.

A sidelight: this campaign swing will be the first bringing together Clinton and Richardson on behalf of Obama since the New Mexico governor endorsed Obama. Former Clinton strategist James Carville famously called Richardson, who held several jobs in the Bill Clinton administration, a "Judas" for doing so.