Florida 2000 villain Katherine Harris goes from GOP darling to liability

[DeepModem Mom]

LAT: Rep. Harris Goes From GOP Darling to Liability
Polls say she's no longer a shoo-in against her rivals in the U.S. Senate primary in Florida.
By Carol J. Williams, Times Staff Writer
September 1, 2006

MIAMI — She's called for a Christian theocracy so Congress won't "legislate sin." She's lost a dozen key campaign staffers in the home stretch, advertised endorsements she didn't get and failed to pick up a single recommendation from Florida's leading newspapers.

Rep. Katherine Harris — the former darling of the Republican Party for her pivotal role in the 2000 presidential recount — has stumbled so badly in her bid for the U.S. Senate that pollsters and pundits no longer focus on her longshot chances against Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson in November, but instead on the outlook for Tuesday's primary race against virtual unknowns....

***

Harris' fortunes began to tumble more than a year ago and have lately been in free fall. After the disclosure last year that she had accepted $32,000 in illegal campaign contributions from a defense contractor who has pleaded guilty to bribing former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Rancho Santa Fe), the Florida state Republican Party urged her to withdraw from the Senate race. Gov. Jeb Bush, a Republican, said publicly that she couldn't beat Nelson....

***

Political director Rhyan Metzler bolted this month after Harris blamed him when fewer than two dozen supporters showed up at a rally at Orlando Executive Airport. None of the party heavyweights she told the media to expect to be there were. Harris told the clutch of reporters in the nearly empty hangar that the poor turnout was because of a last-minute location change after a tree fell on another hangar. Airport officials said no such accident had occurred and that the rally was held where it was originally scheduled.

Her campaign website also posted endorsements from four Florida congressional representatives late last month, then withdrew them when the politicians said they hadn't expressed a preference among the Republican contenders. The site's campaign diary hasn't been updated since May 29, and there hasn't been a single posting to the online blog....

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-harris1sep01,0,968492.story?coll=la-home-nation

[orpupilofnature57]

1. A figure Head of ShrubCo!!!!

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[yellowcanine]

3. Dammit she could still lose the primary. That would be tragic. No more

fun and games - unless at that point she decides to "get religion" and bare her soul on the 2000 election?

[Ignacio Upton]

5. Maybe she could pull a Lieberman and go Independent

Or does Florida have a "sore loser law" preventing that? It would be funny to see Nelson vs. Collins/McBride vs. Harris.

[yellowcanine]

7. That is a great idea! Think she would actually do that? No way we will

be so lucky. You think????

[Warpy]

4. That's what happens to a bit o' GOP fluff who gets ambitious

She's treated with contempt and dropped like a hot rock.

Anybody who expects gratitude from the Bush family is crazy. They're like all the super rich: take what they give you and don't DARE ask for more.

I can almost feel sorry for the stupid woman. She should have known the rules.

Almost. Her role in the destruction of this country can't be overstated.

[flordehinojos]

6. we hear katherine harris, whatever few words we can muster to listen to

without throwing up or throwing things to the t.v...yet, my husband and i wonder if there is any covert arrangements between harris and the bushes (especially jeb who has so put her down in the recent past) to have the florida diebold manned by many republican shill supervisor of elections like our very own jeb shill DR. BRENDA C. SNIPES and her diebold machines steal the votes for katherine harris and make it look like a pretend surprise victory for harris.

given the track record of the bushes for cover operations and for saying one thing, and meaning or doing another...we don't think our thoughts are all that far fetched.

i don't even know why so many of us are talking about elections and kicking republicans out of 0office when we have no did-ly squat power of these diebold machines which will alter our votes whenever and wherever they want to.

[Solly Mack]

8. She wanted more .....forgot her place

She expected more of a payment for her role in Selection 2000

Course, now if she ever opts to tell the truth about her actions during Selection 2000, the GOP can claim she's just bitter - and they'd be right....won't be the full truth but it would certainly be A truth. Just because you're bitter doesn't mean you aren't speaking the truth

The GOP could have helped Harris - had they wanted to.....but allowing her to hang herself gets rid of her and anything she might say one day without the stench coming back on them.

She'll claim they helped bring her down...and they did (simply by not helping)....but she'll look like a kook in the claiming....and any other statements she might make will be easily discredited because she thought they were paying out rope as a life-line for services rendered, when it was really a puppet string that becomes a noose when needed (as all puppet strings can)....and she herself tied the knot around her neck.

She got to Congress, thanks to her Selection 2000 role...she wanted more..."they" disagreed

[Virginian]

9. Bush owes her.

Katherine Harris was rewarded for her partisan efforts in 2000 with a two year term in Congress. Now the GOP is trying to stay as far away from her as possible.

People remember her as the Secretary of State that stopped the recount so that her candidate, George Bush could win. I guess that is just one more way the Republican party can distance itself from Bush.

Bush owes her. He should go down and campaign for her so that her polls will drop even further.

[yellowcanine]

13. Oh man. I thought you said, "He should go down on her" Yikes!

[opihimoimoi]

14. My EYES my EYES

[Vickers]

10. Electrion fraud and augmented breasts can only take a girl so far...

:spank:

[yellowcanine]

12. Botox, don't forget the botox!

[gratuitous]

11. The last I saw, she was indeed a shoo-in for the primary

It's difficult to see how she won't get the GOP nomination for the Senate. But then, it was difficult to see how Bush could have won Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004.

[Monk06]

15. Call me insane but I seriously want to boink that woman. If only for

amusement value.

[SPCAworks]

18. lmao...

muzzled of course.

[lpbk2713]

16. Krazy Katie will win the Florida Primary on name recognition.

But she will be shot down in flames and suffer a humiliating loss to Nelson in the General Election (barring any smoke and mirrors fron Diebold). After that she will become a recluse, never to be heard from again.

[leesa]

17. Get your revenge Katie. Tell us what you did in 2000. Tell us what you

were promised in return. Did you think they promised a Senate seat in addition to the Representative seat and chair position? Were you screwed over?