Harris' Senate campaign 'imploding'

Orlando Sentinel ^ | 4/1/06 | Jim Stratton

[aynrandfreak]

The last of U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris' key staffers appear ready to abandon her campaign for the U.S. Senate in a wave of resignations expected to start this weekend.

Sources close to the campaign said Friday that the defections would touch virtually every level of her operation.

Harris, who is running against Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, is likely to lose her chief political strategist, her campaign manager, her spokeswoman, her director of field operations and even a traveling aide who helps hand out stickers at campaign appearances.

It is the latest and most dramatic indication so far that her campaign is on the verge of collapse.

"I've never seen staffers go like this," said David Johnson, a Republican pollster and consultant. "It's just imploding."

Calls and e-mails to the campaign were not returned Friday night, but sources said Harris met with staffers earlier in the day to tell them she would be hiring new people to replace those who had already left.

Campaign workers could stay, she said, but they would have to recommit themselves to the Senate race. She gave them until 5 p.m. Sunday to decide.

Two sources familiar with what happened at the meeting said Harris, in part, blamed the staff for the chaos that has consumed the campaign. Those sources did not want to be identified because they were not authorized to speak for the campaign.

[FreeReign]

...if more "middle aged" women looked as good on horseback as Harris does, there would be more riding 'em.

I know what you mean.

Giddyap.

[southernnorthcarolina]

When staffers start jumping ship the handwriting is on the wall.

I love a good mixed metaphor.

[FloridianBushFan]

I support Harris and really would love to see her beat Nelson. If this article is true then she needs to decide on what she is going to do. She either needs to get her campaign in order or move on so someone else can run.

I really hope she does what is best. If she stays in I will continue to support her but she really needs to do some major work with the campaign. It would be nice if she announced ahead of time where she is campaigning then maybe more people would come out to hear her speak. For example she was here in Orlando last week but no mention of it on her website or anywhere else.

If she doesn't fix her campaign then Nelson will win for sure. I really do not want to see that happen. I will hope for the best and continue to support her.

[HitmanLV]

What makes me laugh is that Freeper supporters of Harris are 100% behind her with an almost fanatical devotion, while those actually close to Harris and her campaign are ditching her.

KH is one of the saddest figures along the landscape: she doesn't know she is a joke. Indeed, she appears to have almost no idea that she just can't be taken seriously.

[I got the rope]

The Bushies didn't want her to run because they saw how she kept losing margin in her Sarasota district while alienating potential supporters. The Sarasota seat was one of the safest in the country, and Katherine found a way to screw it up.

What? Why don't you explain that?

[I got the rope]

LOL.

The early bird... is worth two in the bush.

[rwfromkansas]

If this is true, she needs to withdraw now.

I supported her, but if her campaign is coming apart like this, she needs to have somebody step in.

[nickcarraway]

So you're saying dhe's doing better than encumbent Senator Rick Santorum?

[I got the rope]

Another lib troll posting 'rat talking points:

Google search for Harris, ego, Bill Nelson

[Dante3]

Your comments sound absurd and stupid. Maybe you had a little too much to drink. Or you are a kid who is just blabbing.

[I got the rope]

During election time the RINO's certainly expose themselves.

PROPAGANDA TECHNIQUES

We get lots of POS trolls that run down conservatives any chance they get "ratmanLV" has been doing it since Dec 17, 1999.

[JulieRNR21]

BINGO......you got it right!

The FL liberal press has been going bonkers to take her down since the day she announced for the Senate.

The only one they hate more that KH is GWB.

Boxer sent out a fundraising letter to FL Dems saying that Harris can beat Nelson so they better cough up lots of moola.

Now some may say that it was just a ploy to raise cash but Harris has beaten incumbents before for the FL Senate & for Secretary of State.

I think she's doing spring cleaning and will have a stronger staff & campaign team when she's made the changes that need to be made!

She's determined to win this in memory of her recently deceased Dad who was very proud of her achievements.

Her Grandad was a political force in FL and it's in her genes.

[JulieRNR21]

That's illogical! How was she losing Sarasota?....She won both Congressional elections by the same margin......of 10%.

[FRONTLINER]

Yeah sure whatever you say Liberal .

[FRONTLINER]

The DU trolls have heavily infiltrated this site and always appear when there is a thread regarding Harris .

[section9]

Her reelect numbers were anemic compared to her 2002 numbers. She had always found a way to alienate potential supporters in the Sarasota-Bradenton area and had issues with Jeb dating from her time as SOS. Had she gone to D.C. and concentrated on bringing home the bacon to the District for a period of eight years, she might have developed into an influential congresswoman. Instead, by '04, her margin had gone down a couple of points.

But she got the Senate bug too early. There is a reason that the State party isn't happy with Katherine right now. If it was happy with Katherine, her people wouldn't be quitting.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[I got the rope]

Election results for 2002

Election results for 2004

How about doing a search before you run her down. You don't know what you are talking about.

[section9]

You're right. As far as her totals go, she looks in good shape. Let's say I got some bad secondhand information which I should have checked out first. Next time I'll take your advice and check some vote totals before I rely on secondhand information, although my source was a consultant who was underwhelmed with Katherine's performance. I -do- know that she's found a way to alienate a lot of people that she needed in the State Party. Especially Jeb, which is not a smart thing for her to do.

Her numbers for 2004 are intriguing. They don't explain why Katherine is running such an incompetent campaign. Her 2004 numbers for both her and her opponent show basically no significant increase in support for either candidate. Katherine added a point. Basically, imho, Katherine is running okay here but this is Sarasota. Even with the baleful influence of the Herald-Tribune, Katherine should have been able to put away her opponent by a couple of more points, unless the Democrat got a lot more funding from National than I am aware of (which is a possibility; national Democrats hated Katherine...). Sarasota is one of the most Republican Districts in the country.

I stand by one thing: this race is a drag on the State Party apparatus. It's a Dem Hold unless Jeb gets in the race. Which is a shame, as Nelson has to be one of the weakest incumbents around.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[HitmanLV]

None of the above.

[I got the rope]

Let me ask you this. How much did you know about GWBush at this time before the election of 2000? I would guess not much since you are not from Texas. Did you know he actually had property taxes cut in the state?

The people who give negative comments on this site about Harris don't even know her or her politics. The Dems are running her down on every radio station, every newspaper (many of which are owned by northern lib rags like the NYTimes), and on TV. You should be careful what you repeat...there is going to be lots of outright lies going to be spoken of about KH.

One thing is for sure...Nelson is a PRO-ABORTION and PRO-tax punk and he doesn't need to represent a Pro-life, pro-gun, pro-War on Terror state like Florida.