At stake are two political traditions: the old, working-class machine politics personified by Mr Martinez, and a middle-class reformist trend represented by Dade County's mayor, Alex Penelas.

ECONOMIST: Florida politics

" Though the Times backs most of Corzine's positions on the issues, it condemned him for financing his campaign "in a way that recalled the abuses of old-time machine politics.

CNN: New Jersey Senate candidate sets spending record -- but loses ground

Its "tax cuts for 95% of the American people" are the tax-rebate equivalent of the ancient machine-politics practice of handing out free turkeys at holiday time--nice gesture, but it does nothing to increase incentives for productive work, risk- taking and success, good things achieved by cuts in tax rates.

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