Hillsborough County Democrats did plenty of John McCain bashing at their annual fundraising dinner on Saturday. A predinner video portrayed Barack Obama as Rocky Balboa and McCain as a white-haired Mr. T. Keynote speaker Dan Gelber, Florida's House Democratic Leader, quipped that GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin spent the day squirreled away in a Florida hotel room, "on Wikepedia learning about foreign policy."

In an interview before the dinner, Steve Schale, director of Obama's Florida campaign, said the 20,000 people who turned out to see Obama in Jacksonville earlier that day show the Democratic candidate has the enthusiasm that could turn the election in his favor. "There has not been an election in Florida that has been decided by more than six points since 1988," he said. "This is a competitive competitive state. Enthusiasm counts for something."