A placard announcing the rally's cancellation sat in the hallway at the state GOP convention in Orlando on Sunday.
[Steve Bousquet | Times]

The stage was set Sunday for a big, boisterous rally at the state GOP convention in support of a proposed constitutional amendment to cut property taxes.

Just one little problem: the amendment doesn't exist because the Legislature hasn't reached agreement on a tax plan.

Realtors and other tax-cut advocates have pre-launched the pro-amendment campaign with generic "Vote Yes on 1" stickers and flyers that say "Save Our Homes Now." A table at the convention was piled high with those.

Todd Wilder, a Democratic strategist working on the campaign, said the rally was called off for two reasons: Gov. Crist's
attendance could not be confirmed and "it was originally planned when
we thought something definitely would be on the ballot." His partner in The Markham Group, Paul Neaville, has been hired to help pass what legislators and others hope will be Amendment 1 on the Jan. 29 ballot.

--Steve Bousquet