Florida Highway Offers Clues to Presidential Race

By Sharon Cohen

ALONG FLORIDA'S I-4 CORRIDOR -- Beyond the theme park billboards that promise worlds of fantasy and adventure there is reality along this road that ripples across the state, small measures of struggle and survival in today's sputtering economy.

For Eve and Michael Dobbins, that reality is a cash register. If there's $9 in it after toiling 10-hour days in their cupcake shop in Tampa, that's a disaster. If there's $200? Reason to celebrate.

For Travis Joyner, it's a gas pump. A few pennies up or down matter to the Orlando theme park worker trying to chip away at $60,000-plus in student loans while earning only about $10 an hour.

And for Larry Szrom, it's a job. He makes a fraction of what he used to earn, but the former chemical engineer, mortgage broker and real estate developer is thrilled to be working as a teacher.

> > Bull or Bear? Vote in Our Poll

All four are finding their way in a once-booming Florida economy that was battered by the recession and is now recovering at a frustratingly slow pace. Once a symbol of explosive Sunbelt development, where construction cranes seemed as common as palm trees, this haven for retirees, tourists and Northern transplants is trying to recapture its glow. But first the state has to bounce back from a housing bust and a steep plunge in population growth.

Florida's economy is center stage in President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney's high-stakes campaign for the rich trove of 29 electoral votes. One of the biggest prizes still up for grabs, this state, a hard-fought White House battleground in 2000, could be just as pivotal this year. And no turf may be more important than the I-4 corridor, the heart of swing voter country, home to foreclosures and fresh starts, pain and prosperity, hope, anxiety and a frustration with politics -- America in microcosm.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next › Last »