So, unstraddle the fence and tell what it's going to be..... LOL. I think she will take into account the WH feelings also.
Posted on 01/08/2004 8:42:04 AM PST by Bush Cheney
Edited on 01/08/2004 11:40:39 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
Watch your makeup compact, Hillary, Florida's Katherine Harris may have her eyes on the United States Senate, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
MORE
Against the apparent wishes of senior Bush strategists, Harris has decided in her heart and mind that she will seek the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat, sources close to Harris tell DRUDGE.
"She wants it, wants it badly!" a top source said Thursday. "She'll make her decision public within the next week."
The source, who has daily contact with Harris, cautions the congresswoman still could hold back and not make the run, in deference to the president and his brother's wishes.
Sarasota County's GOP chairman, Tramm Hudson, said he spoke to Harris Tuesday night and that she seemed ready to run, according to reports. Harris continues to be one of the party's top fund-raisers.
Elsewhere, Texas Senator Kay Hutchison has reportedly advised her republican counterpart to "Go for it!"
If elected Harris would join a select group of women ever to serve in the United States Senate.
MORE Harris advisers dispel any notion that bad blood still runs in Florida over Harris's role in the 2000 election drama.
"Look, Governor Bush handily won re-election last year, after 2000, and the state's voters did not punish him," notes one top Harris strategist who asked not to be named.
"And they will not punish Katherine. The senate campaign will be on the issues, and electing the best person to represent Florida in the senate!"
Developing...
He's been the head of a county government (equivalent to mayor). He's been a Cabinet member. That's plenty qualification.
Katherine Harris is an excellent candidate.
Why? Because she was secretary of state of Florida, counting votes? Because she has high disapproval ratings? Because she's well-known but still trails Betty Castor in the polls? Is she particularly conservative? Not that I've ever heard. Maybe as conservative as Mel Martinez, but at least Mel is strongly pro-life. Why then is Harris an "excellent candidate"????
She has a 29% positive approval rating, 27% negative. The usual standard for a healthy approval rating is 2:1 positive.
29:27 is Not Good. She's very unpopular among Democrats, and only mildly popular among Republicans. I haven't seen #s for independents.
Can you provide a link to those polls. I ask because KH told me that she was told she would help BUSH if Castor won.
I don't know about that. There are several 1st-tier candidates in Florida. Gallagher is set for governor. Brogan opted out of politics. Crist was just elected AG. Feeney just got to Congress. The timing was bad for a few people, that's all. But we still have Mel Martinez, who's an excellent candidate, and Webster or even Byrd would be ok if dead weight McCollum wasn't crowding out their support.
On the national scene, too, there's Frist, Allen, Sanford, Pawlenty, Benson, and maybe a dark horse like Carcieri.
It's true that she got 55 where Bush got 54. But then again 2000 was a Democrat year, while 2002 was a GOP year. And:
That's hardly someone who voters run from.
"In the end, voters in this Republican-leaning district returned to form and gave her a 24,300-vote winning margin. This margin was lower than those of other Republican candidates running in pretty similar Republican performing open-seat races in south and central Florida. Republican Mario Diaz-Balart took 65 percent of the vote in the newly created 25th district and former House Speaker Tom Feeney took 62 percent in the new 24th district." http://www.cookpolitical.com/display.cfm?edit_id=39
According to the folks in the know, she didn't run a good campaign for Congress and had to be bailed out with last minute attack ads from the NRCC.
If she isn't running, she may just be asserting her independence and willingness to run so it doesn't look like the White House just tossed her aside. "I was all ready to run, it would have been fine, really it would have, but I decided I'm going to concentrate on my job in the House for now."
BTW she told me ahe never wore blue eye shadow & that they would put it on her photographs.
This is that same mentality that has them traipsing around the country shoving liberal Republicans down the throats of conservatives.
The flaw in this reasoning is the assumption that there is a set group of voters that always votes at exactly the same rate of turnout and that so-called undecideds fear conservatives and all kinds of other simplistic clap trap.
Its all about turnout and when you have a lightening rod on your ticket it energizes YOUR BASE. They don't just vote for you, they nag their bar buddies to get out and vote on election day, or they put a van pool together because they are motivated and excited about a contentious battle.
When you take your base for granted and put up a mashed-potatoes take-it-or-leave it candidate you may get the party loyalists, but you lose your GOTV energy in the ho-hum campaign. Worse, if you anger your base as Bush did yesterday, your base decides "to hell with them all, I'm going fishing on election day."
Go Katherine, RUN! We need the energy and controversy to drive up our turnout.
Oh please, she's a politician and politicians, especially women, don't get to be Sec State and congressmen without serious wheeling and dealing and God knows what else. You act like she's Saint Katherine.
And mindbender26, explain to us about the Q factor again. Considering her huge fan base nationwide, I would think a new poll would show her rating to be much higher.
A good approval rating is 2:1, or preferably 2.5:1 favorable. Harris's last number was 29+, 27-, a 1:1 ratio, not good at all.
Mason-Dixon poll, November
Johnnie Byrd.
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