The Tampa Tribune du lieu suivant : Tampa, Florida • 24

TBO.com THE TAMPA TRIBUNE SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2006 METRO 5 BISHOP W. THOMAS LARKIN CAMPAIGN TACTICS BELOVED BISHOP in grass-roots events going door to door in neighborhoods along Interstate 4. Trailed by large coteries of reporters, local politicians and supporters in "Crist for Governor" T-shirts, he knocked on about half a dozen doors each in neighborhoods in Tampa, Lakeland, south Orange County and Ormond Beach. The homes were carefully preselected to be Crist supporters. Early Voter Shows Support In Tampa's upscale Palma Ceia neighborhood, Dale Ma-bry Elementary second-grade teacher Cathy Aubin said she had already cast an early vote for Crist and Katherine Harris for the Senate.

Aubin said opinion on the race among the teachers at her school is "mixed some weren't too pleased about Gov. Bush's plan for the schools," and that some don't like the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. Aubin said the schools need some form of accountability, but she's not sure the test should be used to judge schools. In southern Orange County, Crist sampled arroz con polio at the home of Gilberto Hall in a largely Hispanic neighborhood called Meadow Woods. Luis Fortuno, nonvoting delegate to Congress from Puerto Rico, toured the neighborhood with Crist.

Puerto Rican immigrants, tending to vote Democratic, have moved Orange County out of the reliably Republican column in some recent elections. But Fortuno, who has campaigned for Crist several times this year, said the community's votes are "up for grabs" and will depend on issues they consider important education, taxes and the climate for small businesses. Florida has always been a very competitive state with very close elections," said Crist campaign manager George Le-Mieux. The Democratic rally featured the party's entire slate for the election, including Davis' running mate Daryl Jones, attorney general candidate Walter "Skip" Campbell, chief financial officer candidate Alex Sink and agriculture commission candidate Eric Copeland. U.S.

Sen. Bill Nelson, running for re-election, and former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham also offered pep talks. Joining the officials on stage at the Joseph Caleb Center were Michael Schiavo, who fought a lengthy legal and political battle to remove a feeding tube from his brain-damaged wife, and Freddie Pitts, a Miami man wrongly convicted of murder in the 1960s.

Davis' vote against compensating Pitts and Wilbert Lee while a legislator in 1990 has haunted the Tampa congressman in his primary and general election campaigns. After he apologized for the vote, Pitts and Lee endorsed Davis and Pitts has made a number of appearances on his behalf. Davis appeared to beam as he stood on stage with the former president. He introduced Clinton as someone who treated the country with respect. "We can do so much better," Davis said.

"We once had a president who believed in us." Clinton, speaking to about 900 people, recognized Jones for his work as one of his Florida co-chairmen during the 1992 presidential primary. "We all know that here in Florida and all across the country things are not the way they ought to be," Clinton said. "We know we can do better and we know we are better than the way we've been led." Crist spent most of his day Continued From Page 1 Larkin remained involved in the diocese and at St. Cecilia Parish School in Clearwater, where he was pastor from 1967 to 1979. He founded 19 parishes and a radio station, dedicated 23 churches, co-wrote a book on priestly ministry, and established offices to serve black Catholics, His-panics, the disabled, youth, the elderly and prisoners.

"He was forward-looking with an emphasis on vocations to the priesthood," Muldoon said. "He started schools and felt deeply for older Catholics who need a secure place to live. He worked a lot to provide that with the Department of Housing and Urban Development and low-income housing. "He was a caring person who talked the best of everybody." Larkin, who was ordained a priest in 1947, also was affiliated with churches in North Miami and Jacksonville. Larkin and the Rev.

Karol Wojtyla, who became Pope John Paul II, were classmates in Rome in the late 1940s. Larkin instructed the young Polish priest in English. John Paul remained a close friend and ordained Larkin as bishop, on May 27, 1979. Larkin ordained 31 priests and 33 deacons. A Catholic elementary and middle school in Port Richey was named for him, Bishop Larkin Interparochial School.

Larkin assisted current Diocese of St. Petersburg Bishop Robert N. Lynch for many GOP FUHDRAISIIIG Continued From Page 1 there were controversial donations to each party. The Republican jackpot came with considerable help from the gambling industry, as pari-mutuels gave just more than $1.2 million, according to a Tribune analysis. The New Hollywood Greyhound Track gave $375,000.

Democrats benefited, too, but got $286,000 from the gambling industry. Both parties tried to spin the financial reports against their competitors. Republican Party spokesman Jeffrey Sadosky put out a news release noting that the Florida Democratic Party took $30,000 in donations from strip clubs. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Davis took aim at insurance companies, saying they had donated $8 million to Republicans. Separate from such debates, some pointed out that the long-term Republican strategy appears to be paying off.

Susan MacManus, a pro- fessor of political science at the University of South Florida, said part of the answer to the record fundrais-ing is "just the organizational superiority of the Republicans. "There's a commitment to party-building operations" between election years, she said. Some good news may also have boomeranged to hurt Florida Democratic Party fundraising this year, she said. Republican challenger Katherine Harris never managed to mount a serious challenge to incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson, so nationally, Democrats have sent money to other more competitive races, not to Florida.

"Their number one goal is taking back Congress," not trying to change the whole dynamic in Florida, MacManus said of Democrats. Here, the Republican Party benefited from big-money donors: 509 contributions of $25,000 or more brought in just more than $28 million of the Republican total. Among the checks: one for $1.96 million from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and one for $1.1 million from Floridians for Truth and Integrity, a political committee that supported Charlie Crist in the Republican primary season. The Florida Democratic Party took in just 154 contributions of $25,000 or more, accounting for $8.3 million of their total.

Reporter Kevin Begos can be reached at (850) 222-8382 or kbegostampatrib.com. Continued From Page 1 Spokesmen for Tom Lee, chief financial officer hopeful, and Bill McCollum, attorney general candidate, said the candidates' attendance was uncertain, although Lee's campaign manager said it was likely Lee would attend. Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson sounded as if he was unlikely to attend, his spokesman said, because he was just in the Florida Panhandle. As of Saturday, Crist was refusing to say whether he would attend, even though a White House official said last week that campaigning for Crist is a specific purpose of Bush's trip. Crist's answer is that he has to go to the places where he needs votes, and because he's already leading in the Pensa-cola area, it's more valuable to spend his limited time some-.

where else. It's common for statewide candidates in Florida, a huge state with nine separate "media markets," or TV coverage areas, to plan the final days of their campaigns with an eye to how they're polling in various regions. A presidential visit normally overwhelms such considerations. It gets wide coverage and, if the president is popular, excites the party's base. Comments by one retired Air Force sergeant in a suburban neighborhood just south of Orlando, whose home Crist stopped at during a brief door-to-door stint, showed why Crist might not be eager to appear with Bush.

William Seyler of the Meadow Woods subdivision said he likes Crist for governor. "I like what the current governor's done, and Crist seems like the guy to keep the current line going," particularly on taxes, he said. But Seyler is disillusioned with President Bush. "He believed faulty intelligence, and he mismanaged the war," Seyler said. "I'm not sure it's a winnable war." The Most Expensive Campaign' Gubernatorial candidate Jim Davis wouldn't answer when asked the significance of a Crist no-show.

He repeatedly said he expected Crist to be there. "The president has raised millions of dollars for Charlie Crist's campaign," Davis said during a stop in Homestead on Saturday. "And I assume Charlie will be there to thank him for that and urge him to stay the course as he did the other night." Davis hammered Crist throughout the day for spending $38 million in his campaign, saying special interests wanted to maintain control of Tallahassee. Clinton picked up on the theme in his remarks, saying "you're going to have to beat tlie most expensive campaign in America." The Crist campaign was un-apologetic. "We're running our race.

Tomorrow in Cameday Section BORN: March 31, 1923, in Mt. Morris, N.Y. DIED: Nov. 4, 2006, in Clearwater SURVIVORS: A sister, Clarice Larkin of Pinellas County. SERVICES: To be determined years, often opening banquets in prayer and celebrating Mass.

"It's like dying and going to heaven," Larkin told The Tampa Tribune in 1997. "I get all the fun and none of the responsibilities." In a statement Saturday, Lynch said: "For close to 10 years, Bishop Larkin led the diocese through an unprecedented expansion of parishes and facilities. He was always witty in his homilies. "He was the first person with whom I spoke upon arriving in the diocese in 1995," Lynch said, "and he remained a wise counselor and friend throughout. One of the first things I did after my appointment as bishop was to ask the priests and people of the diocese to specifically recall his name during every Mass celebrated, and I believe those prayers added length to his years.

"He was a treasure, and I personally will miss him." Monsignor Lawrence Hig-gins, former pastor of St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Tampa, has been close friends with Larkin since both were at the Holy Family parish in North Miami in the early 1950s. "He was a wonderful example for all of us," Higgins said. "He was a very organized and hard-working priest who loved people. "It is a great loss, but he's gone home." 2O042OC7 THE TAMPA TRIBUNE i A 0001914272-02 com in the moment Your Guide To Local Flavor Whether relocating or just vacationing, find out where to get the full Tampa Bay area experience in our special reader's guide.

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