TALLAHASSEE - He may not be running for president anytime soon, but Jeb Bush proved again last week that he remains a powerful force at the Florida ballot box.
In a last-minute campaign, Bush, who is an ardent gambling opponent, prominently inserted himself into the slot machine vote in Broward and Miami-Dade counties on Tuesday. The ballot proposal, backed by more than $6.5 million in spending by gambling interests, was expected to pass easily in both counties. But after Bush's intervention, the measure failed in Miami-Dade County. Broward, which has more Democrats than any other county, passed it.
The Miami-Dade vote marked Bush's second ballot box victory in the last four months, following his successful campaign in November to convince Florida voters to kill a high-speed rail system that was authorized in the constitution.
''The governor had an enormous impact on what happened in Dade County,'' said Ron Book, a lobbyist and political strategist for the slot machine proponents. ''He clearly moved turnout and he clearly moved votes in the closing days of the campaign.''
It demonstrates that while Bush may be leaving office after next year's general election, he remains the single most influential presence in Florida politics.
That may bode well for his latest plan to convince voters to scale back a class-size amendment while boosting teacher pay, an issue that is likely to be on the ballot in 2006.
Others say while Bush has been successful on the slot machine and bullet train votes, it may be more difficult for a governor in the waning months of his administration to get voters to reverse themselves on smaller class sizes, which they approved in 2002. Class sizes are linked to the most important issue for most Florida voters: improving public schools.
''I think in issues like class size, where voters have spoken and have spoken loudly and are much more educated (on the subject), it's much more difficult for a single individual to have a huge impact,'' said Robin Rorapaugh, a Democratic political consultant in Broward County.
But those who have campaigned with Bush say they are impressed with the governor's ability to connect with voters.
''I will tell you he is still a very popular governor, trust me - rock star status,'' said House Speaker Allan Bense, R-Panama City, who campaigned against the slot machines for two days with Bush in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Bense said Bush was able to convey his sincerity on the slot machine issue to the voters.
''Like I do, he truly believes passionately that gambling is not good for Florida,'' he said.
Even Democrats give Bush a great deal of the credit for defeating the gambling measure in Miami-Dade County.
Rorapaugh, who managed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride's successful primary campaign in 2002, was part of the anti-gambling coalition that was battling the South Florida horse tracks, dog tracks and jai alai frontons, which were spending $6.5 million to convince voters to let them have casino-type slot machines at their facilities.
''To say that they had an advantage in resources is an understatement,'' Rorapaugh said.
But Bush's presence in the campaign helped offset those advantages, particularly among Miami-Dade's Cuban American voters, who are known for their reliability to turn out in Miami elections.
''He has a special relationship with those voters,'' Rorapaugh said about the bilingual governor, who claims Miami as his hometown. ''His entry into this fairly late helped communicate to those voters that this was in fact important to him and he needed their votes. I think that played a pretty critical role.''
Book said the slot machine proponents saw firsthand the governor's impact. The tally of the early voting and absentee ballots, which were largely cast before Bush became an aggressive figure in the campaign, showed the measure passing 57 percent to 43 percent, Book said. That changed when the voters went to the polls last Tuesday.
''Those are the votes he influenced,'' Book said.
With the slot machine battle behind him, Bush is staking his political reputation on another high visibility constitutional amendment campaign.
He wants lawmakers to craft a measure that would replace a class-size amendment approved by 52 percent of the voters in 2002.
The measure, which will likely be on next year's general election ballot, would ease the smaller class-size requirements, while offering to boost minimum teacher pay across the state.
Bush has already boldly predicted that if the measure reaches the ballot, ''it will pass with flying colors.''
But some say Bush may find it more difficult to sway voters on the issue of less crowded classrooms, particularly in the large urban counties, like Miami-Dade and Broward, where crowding is an everyday reality. They note that Bush tried to convince voters in 2002 to reject the class-size amendment, which he says is too costly for the state to implement, and failed despite showing his own popularity at the polls that year by winning re-election with 56 percent of the vote.
''He was re-elected handily,'' said Damien Filer, a Democratic consultant who worked on the class-size campaign. ''I have to assume that many people who went into the voting booths in 2002 voted for his re-election and respectfully disagreed with him on the issue of class size.''
Republicans say Bush's biggest asset in the class-size debate will be his credibility on the issue.
''Whether you like him or hate him, you know that when he stands for something, he stands for it because he believes it to be right not because he is beholden to some interest group,'' said Rep. Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, who will succeed Bense as House speaker in late 2006.
Some suggest a revised class-size amendment will be a tougher sell even for a popular governor because unlike slot machines or bullet trains, voters all seem to have a personal connection with schools.
Book, a Miami-Dade resident, said it's a different playing field when the ballot proposal has some ''emotional importance'' to voters.
''Classroom size touches everybody,'' Book said. ''It touches everybody's children, their neighbors' children, their grandchildren. Everybody has a story about a school.''
That includes Miami-Dade's Cuban voters, who have proven to be a solid Bush ally in Florida elections.
''They've got classroom kid problems too,'' Book said. ''So I look at that issue somewhat differently than I look at slots and bullet trains.''