PEMBROKE PINES, Fla.
The circle of 10 retirees at Century Village talked as if they were corner handlers in a boxing ring, trying to will Al Gore into a final flurry against the opponent.
''He kind of started out too slow after the conventions,'' said Seymour Kolesnick. ''Gore is a Cadillac next to Bush, who's like a Buick. Everyone knows Gore's education and political experience is far superior to Bush. Bush can't talk, and everything about his politics is according to Papa Bush.
''But Gore kind of let Bush get away with all his talk about education. Gore was too soft on him for too long, especially in that second debate. Now he's got to hit him hard. He's got to remind the nation that Texas is 49th in education. He's got to remind people that Texas is about last in everything. He's got to get America to ask if they want to be like Texas.''
Gore came to Century Village here during the primaries. The 15,000 people in this development and the thousands of seniors in other Century Villages and similar places in south Florida are a key reason Gore has a chance of winning the state, even though the state's governor is the brother of George W. Bush.
''I cannot believe seniors will trust Bush on Election Day with health care,'' said Gert Broder.
''I talked to a friend who said all her friends are for Bush,'' said Renee Rosenfeld. ''I said that can't be right with the way Bush would ruin Medicare, Social Security with his privatization plans. I hope I changed her mind.''
''I think people will ask themselves, `Am I better off than eight years ago?''' said Lester Mintz. ''That answer has got to be yes. I don't want Bush taking retirement money to invest in stocks. At our age, we want our money.''
President Clinton won Florida in 1996, 48 percent to 42 percent for Bob Dole. Jim Kane, editor and chief pollster for the nonpartisan Florida Voter, which last week had Bush ahead of Gore in Florida 48 to 43 percent, said Gore needs a huge turnout in south Florida to offset Bush's gains in central and northern Florida for Bush. Kane said 13 percent of the people who voted for Clinton are now leaning toward Bush. Only 4 percent of Dole voters are switching to Gore.
Kane thinks Gore must win by 150,000 votes in south Florida. Clinton beat Dole here by about 130,000 votes. ''It's still much closer than any of us originally thought it would be,'' Kane said. ''But this is George W. Bush's race to lose.''
Tony Fransetta, the retiree coordinator for the Florida AFL-CIO and president of the Florida State Council of Senior Citizens, predicted that the gulf between Gore and Bush on prescription drugs, health care, and retirement benefits will energize seniors. ''I think you'll see even more support for Gore than for Clinton,'' he said.
At last week's annual meeting of Planned Parenthood of Greater Miami and the Florida Keys, officials were hoping that Bush's stance against abortion and the specter of an anti-abortion Supreme Court would spark an eleventh-hour surge for Gore. ''We know Bush has been talking about education in the suburbs, but women, particularly in the suburbs, need to wake up from their protected world and realize that their freedom of choice could be in jeopardy,'' said Lawanda Joseph, board chair of Planned Parenthood of South Palm Beach and Broward Counties.
Off the record, officials are worried. They say Gore, in not talking about choice in states where abortion is a hot topic, may be blunting enthusiasm among women. Their worry was a big reason that the nonprofit organization created a political arm that is campaigning for Gore.
''Bush doesn't want choice and Gore isn't talking about it,'' said Planned Parenthood's national director, Gloria Feldt, who spoke at the meeting.
One politician who was at the meeting said Gore has missed chances to energize area environmentalists by not opposing a proposed airport in Homestead near the Everglades and Key Biscayne national parks. ''That's why Nader is doing so well in other states,'' said the politician, an ardent Gore supporter. ''Here was a concrete chance for Gore to show how he would protect the environment, and he is missing it.''
Back at Century Village, the corner handlers, the seniors, still hope Gore can come off the ropes of the latest Florida polls to knock out Bush. ''What's Bush got to say other than `Texas, Texas, Texas?' Mintz said. ''That only means something if you want to be in last place.''
Derrick Z. Jackson's e-mail address is jackson@globe.com.
