Martinez stands by Crist on early voting

October 29th, 2008 | Category: Florida Politics Blog

Sen. Mel Martinez said he agrees with Gov. Charlie Crist’s executive order to extend early voting hours and knocked down talk that it hurts Republicans.

"whether we’re not good sufficient to get folks to the polls and whether we’ve got to rely on inconvenience of voters, that’s no way to win an election," he said while flying from Tampa to West Palm with

John McCain. "It’s democracy at work. We want folks to vote. We just have to get our citizens there, too."

Martinez said McCain is strong in Florida and alluded to Barack Obama’s struggles late in the Democratic primary. "whether Lehman and AIG had not happened," Martinez said, "we would still be up seven."