Morse has said that Florida’s droves of  incoming elderly are to that state what gold and oil once were to California and Texas. One industry observer called Morse’s Villages of Lake-Sumter “the fastest-selling retirement community in the history of Florida.” Its rapidly growing population has surpassed 21,000 retirees. Morse’s company also is a growing political force. It gave more than $80,000 to the Florida Republican Party in Jeb Bush’s ’98 election year and Morse himself gave $100,000 in soft money to the Republican National Committee in March 2000.