MIAMI, Fla.—There was a Republican presidential candidate debate in Knight Concert Hall just north of MacArthur Causeway on Nov. 8. But on the streets around the venue, it was a just another Wednesday night in an empty business district hemmed in by massive road and condo construction projects.
Biscayne Boulevard and Bayshore Drive were braced with metal barricades for a two-block radius around the hall. Security need not have bothered: no one but police, media, five riot-control horses, three dogs, and—it was easy to count—12 people meandered through the NE 14th Street intersection near the venue’s front doors during the two hours that the five GOP hopefuls were debating inside.
