Commentators on Southern political life agree that Florida was always different. The state's size and geographic barriers, its relative separation from other parts of the South, its urbanism, its high level of new residents, the disparity between its various regions, have all set it apart throughout its history as a state, and especially during the 20th century. They made Florida poliitics into a study in localism that was recognized well before the infusion of Cubans immediately preceding and since the Cuban Revolution of 1959.
V.O. Keys, writing in Southern Politics in State and Nation, a 1949 classic that examined the political structure of every Southern state, referred to Florida's politics as "an incredibly complex mFlange of amorphous factions:"
In its politics it is almost literally every candidate for himself. Ordinarily, each candidate for county office runs without collaboration from other candidates. Each candidate for the half dozen or so minor elective state offices tends to his own knitting and recruits his own following. Senators and Representatives hoe their own rows and each of the numerous candidates for governor does likewise. With each successive campaign different divisions within the electorate develop.
Key went on to say that, although the state at the time adhered to the South's prevailing one-party Democratic standard, it handled its political relationships in a completely different way than a state with a typically stable political hierarchy, such as Virginia. One commentator, writing about the South of the period ending in 1960, called it "an undeveloped country," adding that the South must choose between tradition and progress. In a sense, the geographic conditions, appealing climate and booming development of Florida had already encouraged this choice. But the contrast between the cities and suburbs populated by Northeastern retirees and the sleepy citrus villages had led to a kind of cultu...