Posted on 09/07/2006 3:13:43 PM PDT by NautiNurse
For most of the summer, Katherine Harris's Republican primary opponents complained bitterly that Harris would not agree to debate them.
But that won’t be a complaint from Sen. Bill Nelson, the Democrat Harris faces in November. Harris and Nelson will have two debates over the next 60 days.
The first will be on Oct. 23. That debate, arranged by Leadership Florida, the Florida Press Association and Florida Public Broadcasting will be at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale and will air from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on the state’s 25 public television stations.
A second one-hour debate will be on Nov. 1. That debate will be hosted by NBC Meet the Press moderator Tim Russert and carried live by Florida’s NBC stations from the campus of the University of Central Florida beginning at 7 p.m.
Yes, it is a good opportunity for Harris....I've seen her debate her congressional opponent.
She's a formidable debater with pizazz....and he's like warm buttermilk....LOL
No need to travel to PB/Broward to find left wing nuts to FREEP.....there are plenty in Sarasota at New College~ or in Tampa at USF!
'...Schnitt said she was simply unelectable...'
I believe if Schnitt actually met Katherine in person and spoke with her about issues, he would change his mind about her.
Big plus for Nelson.
Harris can't keep two ideas straight in her head for 2 minutes. Sad for the GOP.
Which previous Harris debate did you attend?
I have seen her in action and she's a good debater.
As for keeping two ideas straight...she has a great memory and quotes facts & figures when she debates.
Katherine Harris is the GOP nominee for the Senate and we all need to support her candidacy....not help Nelson!
If you want to support Nelson start your own thread!
Thanks for the ping to this Julie.
Nelson, whose parents were both teachers, won national speaking awards as a teenager. The man is a phony, but no dummy as a speaker. Harris is unlikely to beat him in debate.
Schnitt makes me nuts sometimes. He can have some good points now and then. There are other times when he'll cover a horrid subject like a murder or molestation and you get the sick feeling he's poking the body with a stick, looking for ants. At those times I think he's just talking so he can feel the breeze pass between his ears.
Seems like a good guy, but he crossed the boundaries of bearable topics once too many. I listen to O'Reilly and FOX news on XM now.
Maybe I'll tune in again, though. Maybe he's changed?
The media continues to attack Harris, as they predict she will lose to ultraliberal Nelson. Donate money to Harris now!
Harris News Update:
Primary Winner Harris Faces Uphill Duel
By MITCH STACY
The Associated Press
Wednesday, September 6, 2006
TAMPA, Fla. -- Rep. Katherine Harris overcame the opposition of her own party to win a decisive primary victory, and now it's unclear whether the GOP will lift a finger to support her long-shot bid to oust Sen. Bill Nelson in November.
Harris, dogged by campaign missteps and the specter of a bribery scandal, faces an uncontroversial opponent with a 30-point lead in the polls.
"Make no mistake about it," Harris told supporters Tuesday night. "It's not going to be easy."
University of North Florida political science professor Matt Corrigan thinks a Nov. 7 general election win would be almost impossible for Harris.
"Bill Nelson would have to make a huge, stupid mistake for this race to become competitive, and Bill Nelson doesn't make stupid political mistakes," Corrigan said. "This is more than a long shot."
Harris got 50 percent in Tuesday's four-candidate GOP primary. Will McBride, a 34-year-old political novice who ran statewide TV commercials for a week before the election, came in second with 30 percent.
"She shouldn't take much solace in those numbers," Corrigan said. "For McBride to get 30 percent, that sends a message that Republicans are not behind her candidacy."
Florida Republican Party spokesman Jeff Sadosky said Wednesday the party will back Harris but that it was too early for details.
Sadosky said he didn't know whether state party chairwoman Carole Jean Jordan or Gov. Jeb Bush would campaign for her at some point or if Harris would get any money from the state party.
"The governor and chairwoman Jordan said they would support the eventual nominees," Sadosky said. "She is the nominee."
Bush's office referred questions about Harris to Sadosky.
The Republican National Committee also will support Harris, spokeswoman Camille Anderson said.
"The national party looks forward to helping elect Republicans up and down the ballot in Florida," she said. "Republicans will execute an aggressive get-out-the-vote operation in the state that will benefit all our candidates."
Harris gained the adoration of the Republican rank-and-file _ and the scorn of Democrats _ in 2000 when, as Florida secretary of state, she oversaw the recount that put George W. Bush, the governor's brother, in the White House. In 2002, she won her congressional seat and then two years later set her sights on the Senate.
But Republican leaders pushed her aside in 2004 so Mel Martinez could win the seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Bob Graham.
This year, figuring that Nelson was beatable, the party tried to force her out of the race against Nelson, asking several other people to get into the race.
Harris has been tripped up by her dealings with corrupt defense contractor Mitchell Wade, who pleaded guilty to bribing a California congressman and admitted funneling $32,000 in illegal donations to Harris. She says she gave the money to charity.
More than two dozen of her staff members defected, with some of whom characterizing her as a micromanaging bully prone to temper tantrums and unpredictable behavior.
Harris also has raised eyebrows with some of her public statements. She recently said that separation of church and state is "a lie" and that God and the Founding Fathers did not intend the country to be "a nation of secular laws." She later backpedaled.
Nelson campaign manager Chad Clanton said he didn't know what to expect from Harris during the campaign, but he doubts she can overcome her credibility problems.
"It's the fire she can't put out," Clanton said.
Katherine Harris is the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate. Either you support Katherine Harris or you support liberal Bill Nelson.
Oh boy! She's going to great!
Wow! Color me pleased!
Here's hoping Kate beats the naysayers!!
I'm not sure I believe that 30-point lead. If that were the case, why would Nelson agree to debate? The correct play for any politician that far ahead is to ignore their opponent and make happy talk speeches untill the election.
Jimmy Carter refused to debate Reagan until his internal polls showed Reagan with a serious chance to win.
Politics 101A says there is more to this race than appears on the surface.
The media/pollsters are trying to create such a negative picture for Harris that Republicans will give up. The media is best known for lies and deliberate left-lunatic propaganda.
Bill Nelson is ultraleftist. He doesn't represent Florida voters; he represents the kind of people who keep re-electing Hanoi Kerry and Chappaquiddick Kennedy. Between now and November Florida voters will become more aware of that fact, and the fact that Nelson has accomplished nothing in six years, except to vote in lockstep with the Clintons, Kerry, Kennedy, Boxer, Levin, Leahy, Biden, Schumer, Reid and the rest of the enemy within.
I have always made clear that I will vote for Harris if she is the GOP nominee, which she now is. She will not win, even with the aid of my vote.
Apparently, it is mandatory for you to throw a spear with every Harris post. Meanwhile, you do nothing less than promote success for the liberal Nelson.
Well, someone's going to be eating crow in November.
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