Harris takes early lead in Fla. primary

[LTR]

U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris (news, bio, voting record) led early primary election tabulations Tuesday in her bid to claim the GOP nomination for the Senate, and Rep. Jim Davis (news, bio, voting record) led in the race for the Democratic nomination to succeed popular Gov. Jeb Bush.

With 5 percent of the precincts reporting, Harris had 45 percent of the vote against three relative unknowns. Will McBride ran second at 36 percent, and LeRoy Collins had 14 percent.

(snip)

Pre-election polls showed that Harris would have trouble winning in November against the Democratic incumbent, Sen. Bill Nelson (news, bio, voting record), who had no primary challenger. But Harris had a strong base of Republicans who loved her because of her role in the recount furor.

(snip)

Her makeup and formfitting clothes were mocked on national TV, and her flirty interview style embarrassed her campaign handlers.

"This campaign will go down in history as one of the most disastrous ever run in the United States," declared Jim Dornan, who helped launch Harris' bid as her campaign manager but left three months later.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060906/ap_on_el_ge/florida_elections

[C_U_L8R]

1. How bad do you have to be

to lose to Katherine Harris...
oh the shame.. the humilation... the horror...the hahahahahaha

[DRoseDARs]

5. Oh the...

[C_U_L8R]

9. oh my goodness !!!!!!

my guinness

:beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer:

[demo dutch]

6. There's a bunch of nobodies running against her all with little support

from the GOP. Heck maybe it's a strategy

[Ignacio Upton]

8. She couldn't even get 50% of the vote

And she only won because the three anti-Harris candidates split the vote. If it were just Collins or just McBride running against her she would have lost. Considering that she was supposed to have had the nomination wrapped up on May 12th (when Allan Bense and other credible challengers declined to file for the primary) this shows how poorly she is doing.

[stepnw1f]

2. lol (nt)

[varkam]

3. Did I miss something?

The last I heard, she was completely and utterly doomed - what the hell happened?

[yellowcanine]

4. This is the primary. She is supposed to win that. We WANT her to win.

The general election is where she is doomed.

[varkam]

10. Ohhhhhhh right.

Silly me :crazy:

Go Kathy, Go!

[Benhurst]

7. Go, Katherine, Go! Why you're practically in the Senate, Girl!

If you spend, the voters will come.

Go for it, Girl!

[onehandle]

11. Nelson will be elected with the greatest Dem majority in Florida's history

Which could sweep other Democrats into office.

Before the Harris debacle, the GOP was planning a shut out in Florida.

Tough shit.

Go Kate! Keep 'em high. Keep 'em perky.

[Ignacio Upton]

12. I wouldn't be surprised if the race tightens

Republicans are generally more loyal to their candidates, even if they hate them. I bet that Nelson will win by 15%-20%, but not the 25%-30% that he's being forcasted as having. Rasmussen has race tightening, with Nelson winning 57%-34%, down from 61%-33%. I think that a chunk of softer Nelson supporters simply moved into the undecided column...but why? Any Florida voters know what's going on?