Sen. Barack Obama is making an aggressive push for Florida's 27 electoral votes this week with a spree of events throughout the state including a stop in Lake Worth where he had a job summit Tuesday at Palm Beach Community College.
Florida voted for President George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. In 2000 Bush won the state by 537 votes. According to the Real Clear Politics Average Obama leads Sen. John McCain by 2 points. But the last two polls show a trend toward McCain.
Obama brought along Democratic Govs. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, Ted Strickland of Ohio, Bill Ritter of Colorado and Google CEO Eric Schmidt and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volker to discuss the economy and jobs.
He kept the crowd on a tight leash and stopped them from applauding several times in order to get the summit started. At one point he he even stopped them from booing after mentioning Sen. John McCain and said, "We don't need that. We just need you to vote."
Obama's guests spoke about the economy, energy, education and the governors touched on their respective states' economies.
"It was informative," Aaron Handler, 66, of Boynton Beach said. He then added, "I wonder how Gov. Sarah Palin would have answered these questions."
Handler said the summit gave him an insight into how Obama would conduct a meeting. He was impressed with his performance and called him a good listener.