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COPYRIGHT 2005 The Miami Herald
Mar. 30--Mourners did not exaggerate when they called the death of condo leader Amadeo Trinchitella the end of an era.
The passing of the Century Village icon known as "Trinchi" last month marked the fading of a generation that made South Florida one of the strongest Democratic bastions in the nation.
About 5,700 fewer Democrats from Broward and Northeast Miami-Dade retirement condominiums voted in the 2004 presidential election than in 1992, according to a Herald analysis. The 14 percent drop deflated John Kerry's cushion in the two counties, leaving the area powerless to offset losses in other parts of the state.
As more of South Florida's old-time Democrats die, Central Florida is replacing Broward and Miami-Dade as the must-get region for state and national candidates.
"This last election confirmed that South Florida's dominance in Democratic politics is now over," said Fort Lauderdale pollster Jim Kane. "It's only going to get worse, because the strength of the Democratic base was the retirees."
Weeks before his death, Trinchitella, 87, announced he would retire as president of the Democratic Club in Century Village Deerfield Beach, which has lost half of its Democratic voters in 12 years.
Two other longtime club leaders, 90-year-old Casey Pollack of Palm-Aire Village in Pompano Beach and 81-year-old Marvin Simon of Pine Island Ridge, stepped down last...
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