First, we take the Polk County Democrat

October 28, 2006

Guest Post by Morbo

Modern technology can be a blessing and a curse for today’s political hopefuls.

On the one hand, e-mail and websites enable candidates to communicate quickly and effectively with supporters, keeping them abreast of breaking news and even making it easier to solicit financial support.

But there is a dark side as well. All serious candidates are expected to have a campaign website, and these sites must portray the candidate as dynamic, forward-looking and above all, like a winner.

Imagine how hard this is when it’s obvious you’re a loser.

Let’s say you are running for U.S. Senate in the state of Florida. Let’s say you’re down, oh, 35 points and you have less than $1 million in the bank while your opponent has $7 million. Let’s say national leaders of your own party have repudiated you and are giving you no help at all.

How does your web team put a positive spin on this?

To find out, I visited Katherine Harris’ website recently. It’s as chirpy as ever. Katherine has been down before and pulled out victories. Plenty of blue skies ahead.

I also learned this exciting news: Harris has won the coveted endorsement of the Polk County Democrat! This twice-weekly newspaper with a circulation of more than 4,000 is part of the dynamic “Frisbie Publishing Company” that also includes the Fort Meade Leader and Lake Wales News.

Unfortunately for Harris, the newspaper’s endorsement sort of damns her with faint praise. The editorial notes that the Polk County Democrat is “one of the few newspapers in the state” to endorse Harris, adding, “the press, with few exceptions, does not like Katherine Harris.” It also concedes, “The problems and yes, errors, in her campaign, have overshadowed what she offers to the voters of Florida.”

But hey, it’s better than nothing, right? And it could lead to better things. Can the endorsement of the Daily Okeechobee News be far behind?

[Editor’s note: Yesterday, National Journal named Harris’ campaign the worst Senate campaign of the year — according to Republicans.]

There ought to be a doctoral thesis here somewhere, or at least a classic literary tragedy. Unbridled hubris. Bending over for the Bush Crime Family in the 2000 Florida election. A Congressional seat handed to her in exchange. Notoriously ugly and cheaply dressed hillbilly receives endless face lifts and private “image” counseling. Still stretching, wanting more out of life (with her daddy’s money). Thinking she could “make it” to the awesome power of the Senate, where she could hobnob with the likes of Orrin Hatch and the rest of the walking dead. “Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first drive mad.”

  • Oh come on Morbo. If you’re going to spring Crayzee Mascara Laydee on us first thing in the morning, you should at least warn us. However, I do enjoy updates on the Three Faces of Katherine* Campaign. After reading the endorsement one must wonder if a shrieking harridan held a sharpened lip liner pencil to the editor’s jugular. Or perhaps she threatened to kiss him. Brrrrr!

    Here, for those of you with stronger stomachs, is a photo from her website. Everyone looks thrilled to be in the clutches of a real live bean sidhe. (who knew they’d moved to Florida?) Especially the guy on the right: http://www.electharris.org/about/

    tAiO

    *1. Evil. 2. Delusional. 3. Bad drag queen giving a wretched impersonation of Lucille Ball.

  • I read this after your post about comic books. I largely agree with what you wrote there. Then, I read this and it occurs to me that sometimes a comic book is more than enough to convey a complete and accurate description of people, places or things. For Katherine Harris, anything beyond two or three frames is overkill.

  • I still say that she has a reason to be cheerful- she knows how to rig an election, after all! Polls? What meaning do they have if you have the keys to the Diebold machines?!

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