WUSF Listening Post - St. Petersburg

I'm Brad Stager at the St. Petersburg Times Festival of Reading, where people gather for literature and an exchange of ideas.

BLACKBURN: My name is JoAnn Blackburn. I live in East Lake Woodlands in northern Pinellas County. My party affiliation? When I lived up north, it was Republican, but down here I've become a Democrat. And I've really have watched both the senatorial debates and the governor debates and I liked the things Jim Davis had to say, especially about the FCAT. As a diagnostic tool, I think that's very important. I think it's been much too harsh for students and schools to be judged on this one test every year.

CARRINGTON: Barbara Carrington, Clearwater, and a registered Republican for the second year. I came from Massachusetts, a Democratic state, but changed my party. I'm concerned about the taxes, so I'm watching those races very carefully. I went to buy a house, and could afford the house, and the taxes that were listed on the sheet were $1,500 and when I went to buy it they were $8,000. So, I'm stuck. So that's a very, very important thing.