As part of CBS Mornings’s genuinely intriguing “Three Meals” series where a host or correspondent chats with voters in a state or district over breakfast, lunch, and dinner, the latest episode bordered on pathetic as correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns went to Florida to inject abortion into conversations with voters (since they weren’t bringing it up themselves) and portray the Sunshine State as in play for her candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris.
But, given abortion, contraception, etc. has been a recent calling card of Huey-Burns, it wasn’t that surprising.
Co-host and Kamala Harris donor Gayle King set the table (pun intended):
This time, we went to Florida, the former swing state has trended more conservative in recent years, we all know that going twice to former president Donald Trump. But this year the Kamala Harris campaign has very high hopes because of a ballot measure that would put abortion rights in the state constitution. Caitlin Huey-Burns went for an eating tour to see what voters in Florida are thinking about these days.
Her first top was for breakfast at Versailles, a legendary Cuban restaurant in Little Havana, and found a table of elderly gentlemen, including Emilio Alverez, who “voted for Trump in 2016 before supporting Biden and now Harris” and chuckled at the notion of Harris being communist.
She found another patron names Jose Fernandez who’s voting for Trump because he does, in fact, see the parallels between Cuba’s descent into communism and the state of America. Having gone zero-for-two on getting her pet issue, she brought it up in a voice-over as the state referendum on abortion is “the real battleground here” and got one patron to support it.
Huey-Burns moved up the coast to a taco restaurant in Port St. Lucie where one couple she came upon viewed immigration as their top issue, leaving her having to look elsewhere to dredge up the baby-killing.
She forced abortion into the conversation at the next table as two women were catching up over drinks, but only after they had brought up the economy and the cost of living (click “expand”):
HUEY-BURNS: So, we’re driving north to Port St. Lucie, it’s in a county that voted twice for Barack Obama and then flipped around and supported Donald Trump in the past two presidential elections. We made our way up the coast to Mexican restaurant Casa Amigos in Port St. Lucie where the shrimp was sizzling and tacos reigned supreme. At the bar we met Jim Bassett, who says he’ll likely vote for Trump.
JIM BASSET: 2008, I voted for Barack Obama. 2020 was really tough. I did vote for Trump.
HUEY-BURNS [TO BASSET]: Do you belong to a party or —
BASSET: I’m registered Republican, but to be honest, I’m more independent than probably anybody.
HUEY-BURNS: — Bassett and his wife, Jenny (sp?), met in Colombia, her home country. And for them, immigration is top of mind.
BASSET: We allowed people to immigrate to this country legally in an expeditious, timely way. I think it would prevent a lot of the border crossings. These people risked their lives to come here.
HUEY-BURNS: At a booth nearby, we found friends Claudia and Valentina catching up over drinks.
WOMAN #1: We’re constantly living day to day, paycheck to paycheck, having to work multiple jobs just to be able to get through.
WOMAN #2: And forget trying to start a family. We’re like, in today’s economy, we don’t think it’s possible.
HUEY-BURNS: On that note, I asked how they were thinking about the abortion issue in Florida.
WOMAN #2: I believe women should choose that they could do whatever they want.
WOMAN #1: Faith-wise, I’m a Christian. I don’t think abortion is okay. I personally wouldn’t do it, but I don’t think it should be taken from someone that wants to do it.
HUEY-BURNS [TO BOTH WOMEN]: Do you mind if I ask who you voted for in the last election?
WOMAN #2: I voted for Biden.
HUEY-BURNS: Okay.
WOMAN #1: I voted for Trump in the last one.
Given Florida’s size, Huey-Burns skipped over dinner to start the next morning in a place more hospitable to her politics:
So, Florida’s a state that’s been trending more and more red. But we’re heading up to Orlando. It’s in Orange County. And that’s a place that’s been reliably blue for the past several presidential elections. We arrived at 903 Mills Market, nestled in an Orlando neighborhood.
Unfortunately for Huey-Burns, it again seemed like she had to nudge patrons at another establishment to talk about abortion.
One named Casey went there and admitted he once “paid for an abortion” and thus supports it, but only after he told her in a previous soundbite that “[t]he possibility that Kamala Harris becomes president keeps me up at night” and “worries me sick.”
Can’t have that kind of talk proliferate on CBS!
Only in the last person Huey-Burns showed did they want to talk abortion (click “expand”):
HUEY-BURNS: Outside, we found Rachel and her son. Yay! Starting their day off with something special, ice cream for breakfast. You’re a mom. I’m a mom. I know we stay up all night about lots of different things.
RACHEL: Yes.
HUEY-BURNS [TO RACHEL]: But when it comes to this election, is there anything that in particular keeps you up at night?
RACHEL: Sometimes women’s health care really does keep me up at night. And of course the climate change keeps me up at night because for them, that’s the world they’re going to inherit.
HUEY-BURNS: But this election season, there is something that all Floridians can get behind.
WOMAN: Maybe just stop with the election text messages.
Huey-Burns closed with two thoughts. First, on abortion, she noted “a lot of Republicans would have to support” the referendum’s required 60 percent support. And, on the other point, she comically admitted “voters have the capacity to think about a lot of different issues at the same time” and are more nuanced than one might think.
Of course, King reacted by insisting she agreed with Basset in Port St. Lucie that “I’m probably more independent than most people realize.”
Cue the laugh tracks.
To see the relevant transcript from September 4, click here.
