Posted on 08/31/2006 3:29:27 AM PDT by NautiNurse
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris holds a double-digit lead over her three opponents in the Republican race for the U.S. Senate nomination in Florida's Sept. 5 primary election, a new poll released Thursday showed.
Harris, who is serving her second term in Congress from a district representing the Sarasota area, was favored by 38 percent of 317 likely Republican voters in a random telephone survey taken between Aug. 23-28 by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. The survey reported a margin of error of plus or minus 5.5 percentage points.
William McBride, a 34-year-old Windermere attorney, was supported by 22 percent, while retired Navy admiral LeRoy Collins Jr., of Tampa was backed by 11 percent and Peter Monroe, a real estate developer from Safety Harbor, received 3 percent.
The winner of the GOP primary will face incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Melbourne, in the Nov. 7 general election.
A fourth of the likely Republican voters questioned said they were still undecided and nearly a half, 45 percent, said they might change their minds by election day - including a third of those who said they presently favored Harris.
"If Rep. Harris had only one opponent she might be in deep trouble," said Peter Brown, assistant polling director for Quinnipiac. "But having three candidates splitting the anti-Harris vote is a major plus for her."
Harris was rated favorably by 36 percent while 25 percent viewed her unfavorably and another 22 percent said they had mixed opinions about the former Florida secretary of state, who gained notoriety for her role in the 2000 presidential election recount.
Her opponents are so poorly known by most voters that none were rated favorably by more than 18 percent of the respondents.
"Harris has a solid conservative voting record. She's got my vote and my support."
____________________
Ditto here....she's got my vote!
You could have just stated this at the beginning of the thread and saved poor JimRob some bandwidth. But please, spare us Harris supporters your pathetic spin job at trying to rationalize your support of an unknown trial lawyer with questionable ties to the illegal lobby who jumped in the race at the last minute. McBride doesn't have a chance in the primary but somehow he'll be able to beat Nelson in the general. That's funnier than a Red Foxx punchline. You don't have to explain anything to us.
I'm voting for Harris after she wins the primary Jeb I believe will endorse her.It will be interesting to see what the RNC and the state RNC have to say.
KATHERINE HARRIS Just appeared on Hard Ball with Nora O'Donnel filling in for Chris Mathews . . .
I watched Katherine Harris with Nora O'Donnell on Hardball. She was very focused in her message that Nelson is too liberal for Florida by talking about his voting record on several issues.
The interview was only eight minutes but Harris was able to make many points....despite Nora's interruptions.
Nora finally gave up her attacks when it became clear that Katherine was not intimidated and was on message.
I thought it was one of the best TV interviews Katherine has had!
I urge anyone who missed it to try to catch it on the 7pm show. Harris was on during the second half-hour.
Harris was focused, responded to all the questions honestly and at length, and she set the record straight on the smear campaign, while turning the discussion to more important issues--Bill Nelson's liberal record. I must admit, I hadn't heard the silly story about Harris bringing a dog to D.C. before today.
Once again, I am satisfied my vote went for the best conservative candidate in the FL U.S. Senate election--Katherine Harris!
Bill McBride is best known among political circles for his 15 point loss against Republican Jeb Bush in the 2002 FL Governor's race. Any other reference to a William McBride as, "apparently well known in political circles" is a crock.
Your "Bill Clinton was not unknown" comment is also a sham and you go on to contradict yourself in the next paragraph. Otherwise, your propaganda regarding Florida politics is bovine scatology.
Feel the love
Of course he is. He ran against Jeb Bush for Governor. He's very well known as a Democrat.
Oh wait, you mean the ambulance-chaser in the Republican primary? That's a different McBride. He can't possibly be well-known in political circles; he's never held elected office.
Perhaps this one wants people to confuse him with the other one. I don't know why, though. The other one lost.
Good grief.
Have you EVER been involved in politics at any level???
There are many, many people involved in politics, well known in political circles, who have never held office. Many who never will hold office. Many who will go on to hold office.
I'm sure a few thousand FReepers fit that description.
I too am satisfied and proud that my early vote will be counted for Katherine.
She was great at 5:00 on MSNBC...hostile environment, but she overcame. Go Ms. Harris!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The illegal immigration issue is very important to Floridians.
McBride is well know among the 'open borders' crowd for this:
He marched with the pro-amnesty 'Immigrats United for Freedom' just 2 weeks before filing for the Senate.
In 1980, GOPer Paula Hawkins became the first and only Florida female elected to the U.S. Senate.
Since then our state has been blessed with the sorry likes of the ole "he-coon" himself, Gov. Walkin' Lawton Chiles, not to mention the likes of the ever-pinko Sen. "Graham Cracker" Bob Graham, son of the owner of the Washington Compost.
And certainly not to mention getting stuck with Bill Nelson, the mango-pulp-for-brains Hillaryite whose consistent socialist/marxist knee-jerk votes put him to the left of Teddy Kennedy & Co.
We Florida women are ready, eager and damn near salivating to put a qualified, conservative Republican lady into the Senate. We'll turn out en masse for her all over the state in the primary AND in the general.
Just watch us do our job for the conservative cause in the upcoming elections, all you armchair boo-bird he-coons!
Leni
Agree! Those weren't softball questions she handled with honesty, intelligence, and decisive responses.
We Florida women are ready, eager and damn near salivating to put a qualified, conservative Republican lady into the Senate. We'll turn out en masse for her all over the state in the primary AND in the general.
Just watch us do our job for the conservative cause in the upcoming elections, all you armchair boo-bird he-coons!
McBride isn't hypothetical. He's real. Three-quarters of the Republicans in the state have never heard of him. It doesn't matter how well-known he might be in theory. In practice, he is not well known. You were talking through your hat. You got caught. Please, move on to the next talking point.
A new poll released by Survey USA shows US Rep. Katherine
Harris with a large lead in the Florida Republican Primary. Harris is
leading 45% to 22% over challenger Will McBride in the race to face Democratic senator Bill Nelson.
You are really, really, really obtuse. You have to be faking stupid, right???
I'm not going to repeat myself -- go back and reread what I've written previously and maybe eventually you'll catch on.
HINT: start by trying to wrap your head around the concept of "political circles".
Read what you've written previously. None of it makes any sense. You sound like some astroturfer in a call center. Fortunately, a week from now, we won't have to listen to any more of it.
LOL! - Yeah, to his mom. And how does "apparently" fit into your statement?
One either is or is not.
-Another wannabe, and no conservative, sir.
As I stated in another post, McBride couldn't beat me in the general election!
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