Swingtown, USA: Clearwater, FL

Welcome:

Clearwater is the county seat of Pinellas County, located on the Pinellas Peninsula between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. The town is named after a fresh water spring flowing from near where City Hall is located today. Pinellas is named for the Spanish Punta Pinal, or "Point of Pines."

The city is the smallest of the three principal cities in the Tampa-St. Pete-Clearwater metropolitan area. The Tampa metro area with a population of 2.7 million people is the second largest in Florida and the third largest in the Southeastern US.




By the Numbers:

According to the US Census, the 2006 population estimate for Clearwater was 107,742, down from 108,787 in 2000. The 2006 estimated population for Pinellas County was 924,413, up from 921,482 in 2000. Clearwater is 84% white, and 10% African-American. Persons of Hispanic or Latino descent make up 9% of the population. In 2006, the per capita income for the city was $25,126.

Bush won Pinellas County by 246 votes in 2004: 225,686 to Kerry's 225,460. In Pinellas County's Republican Primary, McCain won 37.5% of the vote, Romney won 30%, Giuliani won 16.5%, Huckabee won 10.5%, and Paul won 4%. In the invalid Democratic Primary Clinton won 52% to Obama's 33%, with Edwards tallying 12%.

Presently in Pinellas County there are 235,960 registered Democrats, 233,708 registered Republicans, and 149,274 voters registered as Other. In 2004, there were 223,544 registered Democrats, 231,652 registered Republicans, and 135,793 registered Other.

Fun Facts!

The area was originally settled in 1835 when Fort Harrison was built overlooking Clearwater Harbor to serve as an outpost for the US Army during the Seminole Wars.

During WWII, Clearwater became a major training base for troops headed to Europe and the Pacific. Most of the hotels in the area served as barracks for the troops and nighttime blackouts were common to confuse potential enemy bombers.

Clearwater Beach is consistently ranked among the top beaches in the nation.

The Belleview Biltmore Resort and Spa, built in 1897, is the oldest occupied wooden building still used for its original purpose. And it has ghosts.

The worldwide "spiritual headquarters" of the Church of Scientology is in Clearwater. This international HQ, founded in the late 70s, is known as Flag Land Base in the official parlance of the pseudo-religion.

Evel Knievel lived in Clearwater when he died and Hulk Hogan maintains an estate in nearby Belleair a beach house in Clearwater Beach.

Your local news source: Clearwater Citizen, Clearwater Gazette


The following chart shows the five smallest vote margins among Pinellas County precincts in the 2004 General Election.

Precincts	Vote Margin (in # of votes)
St. Petersburg 252	Bush +1
Clearwater 503	Kerry +2
Clearwater 603	Bush +2
Pinellas Park 191	Kerry +3
Clearwater 636	Kerry +3

Swingtown, USA is a regular feature on the Protocol where we introduce readers to a city or town from a swing county in a swing state.