Thomas Edison was a pioneer in electricity, moving images and audio recording.

He was also the original Snowbird.

The inventor moved to Florida from New Jersey in 1886.

His house in Fort Myers is open to the public these days and as gorgeous as you'd imagine, the

white wood veranda is draped with bright pink Bougainvillea.

In Edison's day, visitors included President-elect Herbert Hoover and Henry Ford.

Ford loved it so much that he bought the place next door.

At the behest of the carmaker and the tyre tycoon Harvey Firestone, Edison built a lab in his

garden. He was perfecting an American alternative to rubber made from Florida golden

rods when he died in 1931. These tycoons were trendsetters.

More than half a million Americans moved to Florida last year, more than any other state.

New York's outflows to the Sunshine State were the highest.

Donald and Malania Trump also switched their primary residence from New York to their mansion in Palm Beach last year?

Will Florida return the President's embrace with a moment of electoral magic next month?

With 24 days to go, this is checks and balance.

I'm John Prado, the Economist's US editor, and this is a podcast about the 2020

elections.

Each week we take one big theme

shaping American politics and explore it in depth.

Today, does Florida hold the key to this election?

A COVID-outbreak in the White House was upended President Trump's re-election campaign.

Well behind in national polls, his path to victory once again goes through the Electoral College, and that means he has to win Florida, now his home state and the biggest battleground of all.

...