Katherine Harris starts hiding from the public and press

March 6, 2006

It’s still early in the campaign season, but it’s probably safe to say that Rep. Katharine Harris, the Republican candidate for Senate in Florida, is in real trouble.

From a political perspective, this isn’t necessarily new. Harris ignored pleas from party leaders who urged her not to run, and whispered to reporters that they would prefer a different candidate take on Sen. Bill Nelson (D). Since then, Harris’ fundraising has been weak and her staff has been repeatedly shaken up by a series of resignations among her top advisors. What’s more, polls don’t show her competing very well statewide.

But that was before Harris got caught up in the Wade/MZM controversy. Over the weekend, Harris acknowledged that she requested $10 million in federal funds be set aside for a Navy intelligence program in her district at the request of Washington contractor Mitchell Wade, best known for his role in bribing disgraced lawmaker Duke Cunningham. What’s more, Wade recently admitted to prosecutors that he made illegal campaign contributions to Harris. Complicating matters further, Harris apparently lied about her connections to Wade.

How serious is the situation now? Well, Harris has decided to start hiding.

Already trying to avoid the media, U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, R-Longboat Key, is canceling campaign stops in Southwest Florida as questions swirl about her ties to a Washington defense contractor at the center of a bribery scandal.

Harris, who is running for the U.S. Senate, abruptly canceled a stop in Charlotte County on Saturday, and four other events planned for Lee and Collier counties were removed from her campaign Web site.

It’s another sign that Harris’ struggling campaign is in full crisis mode.

As a rule, Senate candidates who find it necessary to hide from reporters and the public don’t do very well on Election Day.

Be careful what you wish for – if Harris’ campaign is mortally wounded, the Reps can put up a less-tainted candidate who’d have a better chance of winning in November. And noodling around the net shows that the Florida primary isn’t until early September. This whole mess could end up being good news for the GOP.

  • I was thinking what FMguru said. But isn’t it past the filing deadline? It may be too late for the GOP to replace her on the ballot.

  • usually parties have pretty wide discretion if replacing candidates late in the game, if only for the public policy reason that elections with more than one candidate are preferred. Anyone have the specifics on FL election law?

  • She vey well may qualify for a ” Martha Stewart” one room extended stay secluded vacation.

  • As far as replacing candidates who suffer from, ahem, moments of moral impropriety, let’s not forget NJ pulling Frank Lautenberg off the bench to save us from the embarassment of Bob Toreccelli. If they pull her, they’re just doing what both parties have done for a very long time. That doesn’t justify it, but we shouldn’t get too high and mighty when it occurs.

    I don’t really care if they replace her or not, but hopefully it takes a few more months to do it so she can sully the Republican image in Florida for whoever picks up her baton. I mean, what’s the guy or gal who replaces her gonna say, “Vote for me, I’m the HONEST Republican?”

  • To my knowledge, they haven’t had the primary in Florida yet (it’s in September) – it’s just that Harris is the only high-profile candidate in the race (everyone else begged off). I’m sure there are other candidates for the nomination, but they’re all small-fry types who get their 1.5% of the vote and go home. I dunno how hard it is to get on a primary ballot in FL, but we’re still six months away from that election – I’d be surprised if the deadline had passed already. Even if it hadn’t, the GOP could coalesce around a suitable candidate and push him for write-in status. If Harris goes down, the GOP will have a non-Harris candidate on the ballot, which isn’t good news for the Dems, as much as I enjoy the thought of Cruella spending some time in the grey-bar hotel.

  • We’re not buying the GOP spin that the party’s united behind Katherine Harris as she fights to keep herself out of the Duke Cunningham hot seat.

    The irony here is that the Duke-stir could become the NRSC’s number one asset as it struggles to unseat FL Sen. Nelson. The local press corps is fully engaged in this story, producing a full week of drip-drips on Harris and her connections to convicted contractor Mitchell Wade.

    The congresswoman doesn’t need this headache. She has already been struggling to convince GOP leaders that she’s viable and now her ties to the Cunningham/Wade affair only make it harder.

    The filing deadline is 70 days away. Mark Foley is sitting on a decent warchest. And while we don’t think Harris would ever drop out, she may now be vulnerable in a primary. Of course, the bigger question is: can Nelson be beat? Wethinks many a FL GOPer has decided he can’t, since so many have already taken a pass. But if they haven’t run because of the Harris primary hurdle, then Nelson may need to start worrying again.

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