Posted on 08/18/2006 5:48:27 AM PDT by SFCGeraldRTostensen
Fans continue to support Katherine Harris, despite the candidate's lack of party support and her low poll ratings.
''Agua? Could we have some agua?'' the woman asked, in the banquet room of a restaurant in Hialeah, before Katherine Harris arrived to stump.
Two years of high school Spanish will take you further than you think and soon the waitress brought some, along with milk in mugs and a pitcher of coffee.
''This is café con leche,'' the woman explained to her companions. ``It's Cuban coffee. Isn't it so good?''
They sipped. It was.
They were three Anglos in a roomful of Hispanics. They were college students: Jessica Benton and Holly Curro from Liberty University, Jerry Falwell's Baptist institution in Virginia, and Angela Cheatham from Johnson and Wales, the non-denominational culinary arts and business school in North Miami.
They wore jeans and Harris-for-Senate T-shirts. They'd driven down from Fort Lauderdale and this seemed to be their first experience with the Hialeah street grid. ''The numbers go up and down, and the avenues turn into roads -- it's like, where are we?'' Holly said.
This was their second rally. Their first was last week in West Palm Beach, where they handed out bumper stickers and campaign literature and possibly won over hearts and minds. No fewer than three people approached them afterwards to say they'd decided to vote for Harris. ''We were like, yes!'' Jessica said.
Their candidate has, it must be said, some baggage. People say mean things about her mascara and her purging of voter rolls in the 2000 presidential election. They say she lags 30 percentage points behind the incumbent, Democrat Bill Nelson, in polls. They say she should save everyone the embarrassment and just quit. They say a lot of things.
''So many people, when they finally get to hear a person, they change their minds,'' Jessica said. ``And the press, you know, changes things.''
This made for some awkwardness but fortunately the stumping soon began: first a Hummer-load of aides pulled up, then the candidate herself, in the back seat of a gray Chevrolet.
''She always looks so beautiful,'' said one Sy Bonem, who said he was an ex-professional baseball player and a big Harris fan. ``She's a real beautiful woman.''
She was not an unattractive woman. She wore a blue jacket and creme skirt and matching heels and a huge smile.
She took the stage with Congressmen Lincoln and Mario Díaz-Balart and Guillermo Maldonado, a Kendall evangelist who says he was told by several prophets and God himself that his congregation will one day comprise 10 percent of Miami's population.
Harris mentioned marriage taxes and death taxes, which Bill Nelson apparently loves, and traditional values, which he apparently despises. She mentioned her intention to abolish federal income taxes and the Internal Revenue Service, which drew polite applause.
Before a crowd that was almost entirely composed of immigrants -- college students and Sy excepted -- she did not mention, as she did in Orange Park in June, that ''our bleeding wound is our borders,'' which was probably wise.
She finished and started shaking hands, working her way to the back of the room where the college students were.
She smiled hugely.
They smiled hugely back.
''I appreciate ya'll coming,'' she said.
''Thank you,'' they said.
The candidate shook more hands and an aide checked her teeth for lipstick. And when it was time for her to give interviews for the television cameras, the college students were there, nodding solemnly to everything she said.
Ping to a Harris story that isn't a hit piece!
This woman is my hero..If I could vote for her she would get my vote..Send someone to Washington that can and will make a difference..And I love her smile and her inner beauty..
Looks can be deceiving, specialist.
Katherine Harris is the Joe Lieberman of the Republican party. She is a dedicated conservative who was a key to bringing down the Democrat's efforts to overthrow the election of Bush in 2000.
In Lieberman's case, although he is a dedicated liberal who has voted the straight party line on social issues he has supported the war on terrorism, a no, no among Democrat inner circles. What has Harris done that has turned her party against her?
The answer to that question might explain why Republicans are willing to see Nelson, a leftist, win again in Florida.
Anyone?
Yet the first comment by the newbie poster of the thread made it into one.
If she were really putting her party first, she'd bow out of the race (she should've before the filing deadline) to give LeRoy Collins a chance. Florida wants to vote GOP, just not her.
GOP, Katherine Harris and "Loyalty Down"....
http://www.angelfire.com/ca4/gunnyg/loyaltydown.html
Why would the liberal Miami Herald run a decent piece on Harris? Think about it. They now want Harris to win the primary because they think that will help Nelson win easier in November.
I don't know if it's only moderate GOP'ers who have a problem with Harris' candidacy. I suspect that there are a fair number of conservatives who haven't warmed up to her.
I don't see the problem as being an idelogical split within the party - but rather a split between those of us who think she's not ready for primetime and those who'd like to have her canonized.
That's quite a piece of horseflesh.
Could well be. Then again, maybe they checked the temp of the local waters and decided not to risk losing more readership. I don't know what the motivations might be but a change in tactics is always worth noting. Nevertheless, Lieberman is now trouncing Lamont in CT so to the Miami Herald I say, be careful what you ask for.
I would sincerely hope it isn't because she uses too much makeup.
Because beating incumbents in the Senate, from Florida, has always been a breeze? This is never easy -- especially in Florida. With your allies in the media working hard to depict your liberal track record as being moderate, the task becomes even more daunting - with or without the support of your party. You're just plain wrong here.
Signed up this week to remind us how the media excoriated KH for following the law in 2000? What's your agenda n00b? How do you feel about cats?
Having said that, at some point she will be required to cut her losses and wait for a better day. I think that time is probably now.
I stopped contributing to the RNC and have donated more money to the Harris campaign this year than to anyone I have ever supported.
Because this is from the Onion and it is not based in reality.
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