Updated 08/27/2012 09:18 PM
Prominent N.Y. Republicans Discuss Election-Year Strategy At FL Breakfast
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
New York Republicans find themselves in a rare place this week: among people who share their politics. But for the delegates at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., getting out the vote for Mitt Romney is more than just about winning the White House. NY1's Josh Robin filed the following report. Only the most optimistic New York Republican thinks Mitt Romney has even a fighting chance to win the Empire State. But it's a matter of political survival for those under him on the ballot that he at least does well enough.
It was one reason why a Monday breakfast in Clearwater Beach, Fla. for those who trekked south was part reunion, part political rally.
"It's very unlikely he takes the state. If he takes the state he's going to swing the whole country. But I think Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan can have a real impact," said Republican Congressman Peter King of Long Island.
It would be an impact to persuade people to pick Republicans in November, from the top of the ticket down, which is often how people do it.
By one count, there are 30 to 40 very competitive congressionally races across the country that could go to Republicans or Democrats. As many as eight of them are in New York.
Only one candidate from those eight races was at Monday's breakfast — a sign perhaps most of them think they are better off spotted back home than on TV at a partisan event in Florida.
"There's not as much to do here as there is in the district. So they're doing the right thing," Republican Congressman Bob Turner of Brooklyn and Queens said.
Then there is the State Senate, which majority leader Dean Skelos needs to keep in GOP hands if he wants to remain in control.
"I think that Mitt Romney is going to carry most of our senate district," said Skelos.
But longtime political analyst Larry Levy of Hofstra University said that depends. He believes some independents are put off by the party's stance on social issues and calls for big budget cuts.
"What they want is someone who will lead, someone who will show some empathy to the problems of taking care of their parents, someone who will show some sensitivity to taking care of their kids," said Levy. "And right now they don't trust Mitt Romney, at least according to some of the polls that we've done."
But Republicans might add there's still plenty of time if Romney is able to get a better message and get people to pay attention to it, and not the weather.