If Obama wanted to swing the conversation back to the kitchen-table economy, he was given a perfect opening today to score some major points in the hotly contested state of Florida.  Real Clear Politics has McCain up by 1.8 points today, but the real statistic to look at comes courtesy of RealtyTrac. 

The foreclosure tracking company has Florida ranked second in the nation with one home in every 186 filing for foreclosure - a 139% increase from a year ago.  Nationally, a jaw-dropping 17% of existing homes on the market are bank repossessions.

Meanwhile, Gov. Charlie Crist's top mortgage regulator was forced to resign after an investigation by the Miami Herald found that "more than 10,000 people with criminal records were allowed to work in Florida's mortgage industry from 2000 through 2007 and that convicted felons had bilked at least $85 million from lenders and consumers."

Earlier this year, the FBI named Florida the number one "hot spot" for mortgage fraud, a growing epidemic that has forced the bureau to reallocate a large percentage of its agents and resources to cover it.  In the wake of 9/11, FBI agents were pulled en masse off of white collar crimes and no replacement were ever made.  Now, the unregulated mortgage industry is set to explode the record number of fraud cases, resulting in billions of dollars in losses that will be passed on to consumers.

If Obama can't use the rising tide of foreclosures and mortgage fraud to turn Florida to the Democrats, he should just fold his tent.  Especially since McCain gave him an opening the size of a football field by putting together virtually no plans for dealing with the housing crisis beyond "tough sh-t."

I won't even go into Countrywide's ballooning legal troubles, or that the lender's CEO is now under a formal investigation for insider trading and covering up problems with the company's loans. 

Guess where a huge chunk of those mortgage loans were made?  Here's a hint: it rhymes with "schmorida."