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NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Proclaimed a magnificent organization in the last election, it now appears that the 2008 Obama campaign may have been overrated.

This election is going to prove far more difficult than those President Obama has run in previously. Except for the 2008 primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, President Obama has only once before had a tough opponent.

DEBARY-- Big Bird has now become the center of the Obama’s re-election campaign for the simple fact that Obama has nothing else to run on. He was crushingly defeated by Romney in the debate and is now using poor Big Bird as a distraction.

ORMOND BEACH -- I’ll just tell you right up front that I expected the worst from Biden and a spirited defense by Ryan. I certainly wasn’t disappointed.

Gertrude Bazin, 37, of Kissimmee, is in serious condition this morning at at Osceola Regional Hospital after reportedly losing control of her Nissan and driving into a retention pond. A passenger died in the Thuesday evening accident.

KISSIMMEE -- A 41-year-old Orlando man who was a passenger in a car died Thursday night after the driver lost control of the vehicle on Fairweather Way near Flack Court and landed in a retention pond, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

The driver, 37-year-old Gertrude Bazin of Kissimmee, and the passenger, whose name was not released, were able to free themselves from her 2002 Nissan 4-door, but her passenger was pronounced dead at the scene of the 7:20 p.m. accident. It wasn't clear from a report whether the passenger drowned or succumbed to injury.

Headline Surfer photo by Henry Frederick / This lifeguard wheels her chair down to the surf on a recent Sunday morning in New Smyrna Beach.

Headline Surfer photo by Henry Frederick / Cudas QB Marcus Johnson, shown here from the victory over Mainland last week at home,  was 9 for 13 for 178 yards and three touchdowns in the 40-0 win Thursday at Titusville.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The Cudas remain unbeaten following a 40-0 shellacking of Titusville tonight on the road to improve to 6-0, their best mark in a dozen years.

New Smyrna Beach scored 27 points in the first quarter alone enroute to the shutout of the Terriers at Al Werneke Field in Titusville in the non-district football contest, but an important win nonetheless. The Cudas face District 9A foe Seabreeze a week from Friday on the road.

In 2002, the school board issued an RFP for school board attorney and selected Ted Doran's law firm, Doran Sims Wolfe & Kundid, 1020 West International Speedway Blvd., Daytona Beach. Here are the most recent fees:

EDGEWATER -- I find it very offensive that dist. 8 State Senate candidate Dorothy Hukill's radio ad pointing out her difference from her opponent, Frank Bruno, was to make fun of the New York-area Italian-American accent. This is an unfortunate turn of events in the campaigns.