Looks like the Republicans are outhustling Florida Democrats again on absentee ballots. According to Democratic figures, Republicans have requested more than 637,000 absentee ballots so far, compared to more than 441,000 for Democrats, and 185,000 for independents.

Improving their absentee ballot performance has been a top priority for Florida Democrats and the good news for them, according to these estimates, is that compared to this point in '06, Democratic absentee ballot requests are up 5.6% and Republican requests are down 5%. The Barack Obama campaign in a few days will send 750,000 mailers out, with tear-offs for voters to request absentee ballots.

"We're just getting started,'' said Obama campaign spokeswoman Adrianne Marsh.

"We continue to see positive results from Republicans requesting absentee ballots and expect that trend to continue," said Erin VanSickle of the state GOP.

Democrats continue their big push to register new voters until Oct. 6, and from 1/1/08 to 9/1/08 Democrats picked up 287,770 new registrations, while Republicans gained 112,290 and independents 89,859.