Florida Keys hosts underwater pumpkin carving contest

Eric Pfeiffer
·Reporter

In advance of Monday's final presidential debate, divers carved two pumpkins into the likenesses of President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney.

The carvings were part of an underwater pumpkin carving contest held in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, which brought out 42 divers.

"I decided to carve Mitt Romney because of the debates and all the other fervor surrounding the elections," contestant Cat Rambo said in comments provided to Yahoo! News. "I think it's on everyone's mind right now."

The Obama pumpkin carving was created by fellow diver contestant Manuel Garcia.

"We have both Mitt Romney and Obama pumpkins, but we don't want to declare any winners here today," said contest organizer Amy Slate, owner of the Amoray Dive Resort in Key Largo. "We're gonna leave that to the debates and to the election."

Slate, however, did concede that the political carvings made sense after last week's contentious debate, since "they always take political pokes at each other."