Posted on 09/21/2006 7:26:13 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
ORLANDO, Fla. - President Bush came to Florida on Thursday and publicly complimented Rep. Katherine Harris (news, bio, voting record) for the first time since she won the GOP Senate nomination over the opposition of her own party.
"I'm proud to be here with Congresswoman Katherine Harris, who is running for Senate," Bush told a crowd of about 400 people at a fundraising event in Tampa.
The brief acknowledgment came after months of unsuccessful efforts by Republican leaders to push Harris out of the race in hopes of finding a candidate they felt had a better chance of winning against Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson (news, bio, voting record).
Some GOP leaders feared that Harris — who as Florida secretary of state oversaw the 2000 recount that gave Bush the White House — would send Democrats flocking to the polls to vote against her, dragging down the entire Republican ticket.
But now that the party is stuck with her, GOP leaders welcomed Harris as Bush visited Tampa and Orlando on Thursday to raise money for the party.
Bush's remarks came at a fundraising event for Republican congressional hopeful Gus Bilirakis in Tampa. It was the president's first trip to Florida since the Sept. 5 primary.
Harris also joined party leaders at the Orlando event, where the president followed his brother Gov. Jeb Bush in urging the crowd to vote for her.
"The party invited her, and we're glad she's able to attend," said state Republican Party spokesman Jeff Sadosky.
The star of the evening, though, was Attorney General Charlie Crist, the Republican nominee to replace the governor, who is barred from seeking a third term. Crist introduced the president, then sat behind him with Jeb Bush during his remarks. Harris was among several hundred people in the crowd.
Before Harris won the primary with less than half the vote in a four-way race, Republican leaders in Tallahassee and Washington tried to find a candidate who could defeat her. Gov. Bush openly said she couldn't win the November general election, and Carole Jean Jordan, the state party chairman, wrote to her saying the same, although Sadosky noted that both immediately supported Harris after the primary.
"Primaries are a family fight," Harris said before the Orlando event. "They're an internal little feud, and afterward, we come together so we can win."
Harris' Senate campaign has gone into a tailspin. She has been tied to a corrupt defense contractor, given embarrassing television interviews and seen top members of her staff quit in frustration.
Harris trails Nelson by more than 30 points in the polls and by millions of dollars in campaign contributions.
___
Associated Press writer Phil Davis in Tampa contributed to this report.
Detractors should reflect for a moment about what the media has done to this woman. They should think about how many lives would have been lost and what the state of this nation would be under a false President Gore.
She deserves at the very least, reconsideration.
Anybody tell Alan Schlesinger that?
Except she gets none of the money raised yesterday. It goes to the candidate for governor and this local House candidate. All Harris got was a photo op.
Kathryn Harris bump!
If Rove and the out of touch ( on this issue only ) beltway people would just stop doing the rat's job in this race and stopping this talk that she can't win, her numbers will go up. She may be mortally wounded already, but it's worth a try. If they had gotten on board immediately, maybe we would have the wooden Indian on the ropes where he belongs.
She is only down 9 now and we get 50K new Republicans a year in Fla. Maybe, just maybe.
Well 9 pts but why report when you can distort?
Pray for W and Our Troops
I'm not b!tching. In fact I am quite thrilled with this campaign and very glad she is on track with the campaign. I also think she has a little mo behind her right now. If she manages to pull this off the left will be losing their minds!
Some say that Nelson trails in the polls by 35 points.
Just because Kitty got invited to a Crist event doesn't mean the GOP is throwing $$$ in the briar patch.
Game on.
I would love to see that. What's the source?
Silly me, I thought it was the initial count that gave the Bush the White House, along with every one of the recounts. It was the voters, not Harris, that selected Bush...
Jack Daniels or Jim Beam would be my guess.
I am the source. I'm practicing to be a journalist, using vague phrases like "some say", "in the polls", and deliberately distorting reality.
But seriously, Harris is going to win in November. People in Florida are waking up to the fact that Nelson is an ultraliberal who has done little for six years except follow the socialist Democrat blueprint for failure. He's like a puppet on the string of Clintonistas, Kerry, Kennedy and the rest of the lunatic left.
Given the claim I'm betting hallucinogens over booze.
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