Harris saga points to turmoil within GOP, observers say

Harris saga points to turmoil within GOP, observers say
By JOE FOLLICK [jfollick@earthlink.net]
The SHT (that's "Sarasota Herald-Tribune")
May 12, 2006

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Jeb Bush's failure to salvage the Republican Party's uphill quest for the U.S. Senate race this year points to a future of questions for the party.

Bush's force of personality and intellectual rigor have dominated the Republican Party of Florida for most of the past decade, creating a cohesive machine that controls the state.

But the signs of fraying are evident. Senate Republicans bucked his heavy lobbying and killed his plans to protect vouchers and soften the limits on class sizes.

The party has split into two camps, on the sides of the men running to replace Bush -- Attorney General Charlie Crist and Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher. And most prominently, the hapless crusade of Rep. Katherine Harris' U.S. Senate campaign -- and the failure of Bush and Florida's GOP to find a more viable option -- dealt a severe setback to a party used to getting its way.

Some Republicans, privately and publicly, say Bush focused on his immediate agenda and ignored warning signs about the future.

Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, praises Bush as an "unbelievably brilliant man" who has had a historic impact on the state.

"If there is a weakness in his leadership, it's been the fact that he didn't train his successors," Bennett said. "He controls so much himself."

Bennett and other Republicans have long felt that Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings would have been the ideal candidate to succeed Bush, a premise with which Bush has tacitly agreed.

Bennett said had Bush "let Toni step out a long time ago, he could've worked with her, and we could've kept that same power. She's the one person that could've held everybody together."

Florida State University political scientist and frequent Bush critic Lance deHaven-Smith hearkened back to Democratic Gov. Bob Graham's actions upon leaving eight years of well-regarded leadership.

Graham lined up a replacement, who lost in the election to Republican Bob Martinez.

DeHaven-Smith said Bush's actions indicate he felt that lining up his heirs to the throne was "abhorrent."

"Surely someone saw this train was heading our way," said deHaven-Smith of the Harris dilemma and a brutal Crist-Gallagher battle. "You have to assume the governor didn't want to lay the foundation for the next governor and had some doubts about the Senate race and didn't get real involved in that. You know that everyone was looking for him to get involved."

But other Republicans say the party is at fault for the Harris situation, as well as a slate of candidates largely seeking higher office rather than a higher calling.

Ken Connor, a former GOP gubernatorial candidate and former head of the conservative Family Research Council, said Thursday that Harris and others were simply "sniffing around for the next opportunity" while the party enjoyed record donations under Bush's tenure.

"It seems to me the party has done precious little to institutionalize its philosophies and ideas," Connor said.

"In many respects, you sort of have a bench of people that have been driven more by opportunity than ideas. I think, sadly, that's reflected in the vacuum that's being created by Jeb's departure."

Most Republicans do not blame Bush for the failure to find a candidate other than Harris to challenge U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. But they are shocked at the situation given the party's dominance of state politics for most of the past decade.

"I am very surprised that for the way our party has grown and all that, we don't have across the board a strong field of candidates and that we don't have people ready to stand up in this Senate race," said Jim Smith, a former Republican secretary of state and attorney general. "I don't have an answer for that."

Bennett said the party is fixated on courting the far right and ignoring traditional Republican ideas of less government, leading to a slate of candidates that are not in line with most Floridians.

"I believe the party is its own worst enemy," Bennett said. "We're off chasing voters instead of being what we were and having the people gravitate toward us."

Despite GOP angst in a post-Jeb world, the party is almost certain to maintain a 2-to-1 advantage in the House and Senate. And its overwhelming fund-raising advantage makes it the favorite to retain the governor's mansion and provide strong support for Cabinet races.

Bush's departure is not gloomy for some Republicans who felt the party too rigidly followed his lead in issues such as privatization of government services and the battle to override court decisions in the Terri Schiavo situation.

"It seems like if Jeb Bush supports an issue, then all of a sudden it's a Republican issue," said Sen. Nancy Argenziano, R-Dunnellon. "Then you hear the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida saying, 'This is Jeb's idea and we've got to follow.' I don't find it OK to do things just because Jeb says so."

That perception of a more open Republican Party after Bush's shadow recedes may set up a confrontation between moderate and conservative party members.

Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, said, "I would predict that there's going to be a situation, once Jeb's not there, for there to be a move more to the middle -- not necessarily to the middle, but toward the middle. There's going to be a kind of day of reckoning when those two forces try to find a way they can co-exist.

"There's going to be that settling-in period for the Republican Party, particularly in the Legislature, where the Republican majority tries to decide really what it is."

This is on the front page of today's edition, although it was below the fold; these NYT bootlickers must have slipped up.

When it comes to giving ammunition to the enemy, it would be pretty hard to beat the Florida state GOP lately.

Florida Freeper

Sounds like many GOP State parties, split between the guys who know what is best for the rest of us, and those who really inspire the voters and those who connect with the voter's real life thinking.

Unfortunately, the big guns, the guys and businesses who'd sell out "the people" for their own desires for power, usually get by calling the shots.

That is why we wind up with weak candidates (who are actually puppets to the guys in the back-room pulling the strings, rather than a strong candidate who the big guys fear won't follow orders from on high.

That accounts for Bush supporting Spector, Schwartzenager, and other RINOs rather than real conservatives that fire up the base.

Bush would have never supported Ronald Reagan, thinking that he was too conservative to win big!

those who really inspire the voters and those who connect with the voter's real life thinking

I think the worst problem the Florida state GOP has is that no such candidate exists. Looks like Nelson will trounce whoever gets sent up.

Bush would have never supported Ronald Reagan, thinking that he was too conservative to win big!

1) Once inflation is factored in Reagan's budgets spent more %-wise on spending than Bush's.

2) Reagan signed into law tax increases, amnesty for illegals, and supported the Brady bill.

3) Reagan also signed the treaty that banned Freon.

4) Reagan cut and ran from Lebannon after the death of many marines.

I'd vote for Reagan again if it were somehow possible. He did what he could do during difficult times. But a "true Conservative"? Who knows but Ronald Reagan is no George Bush.

Why didnt Lt Gov Jennings run for governor? A GOP woman governor in a huge state like FL would have been a major accomplishment for the party. Maybe she would even have been presidential material?

I suppose Jeb sees the writing on the wall. Given the abject failure of his father and his brother as Presidents the likelihood of him ever attainting that office is a good as lame horse running in the Kentucky Derby.

I thought this thread interesting with regards to FR in general.

This quote is my opinion also

"Bennett said the party is fixated on courting the far right and ignoring traditional Republican ideas of less government, leading to a slate of candidates that are not in line with most Floridians.

"I believe the party is its own worst enemy," Bennett said. "We're off chasing voters instead of being what we were and having the people gravitate toward us."

The ratmedia can say what it wants, but the numbers speak louder. Everyday 1100 new people come to Florida. They are NOT moving in to vote rat. Last year the Florida GOP registered 50,000 new Republicans. The rat registered just 3640. Yes 3640 in a state that received over 400,000 new people. These people WILL vote. No one moves to a new state, takes the time to register, then stays home on Election Day.

This trend has continued and will provide hundreds of thousands of new Republican voters since 2000.

The ONLY people who THINK voters will remember Harris for 2000 and hold it against her are a) Karl Rove and his beltway people b) The rats and the ratmedia c) People who know nothing about Florida politics.
IF voters were so eager to punish somebody they could have punished a guy named Bush in 2002. The Blacks in Florida who were supposed to be offended must not have gotten the memo. Black voter turn out went up just a single point in 2002. So this makes Jeb the biggest fool of all if his objections to Harris are that she will be a red flag for rats. She won't be. The numbers prove that.

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