Tampa Bay Times website reports that if anyone wants to venture a guess as to which way Florida will vote in the upcoming election, they need look no further than the newspapers home county of Hillsborough. The County has voted with the winning presidential candidate since 1960, except for 1992. Many local seats are held by Republicans but it is reported that the county itself leans pretty strongly Democratic and that all Republican candidates start in a hole. The reason behind this trend is the large minority populations which populate the city of Tampa. There was a significant bump in the voter turnout in these populations last election and it will take a similar output to secure the county, and possibly the state, for Obama this year.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/local/hillsborough-county-floridas-true-presidential-bellwether/1259455