Katherine Harris, GOP superstar

Union-Tribune Publishing Co. ^ | August 2, 2002 | Joseph Perkins

[Jagdgewehr]

I used to work for Dan Quayle. I counted Clarence Thomas a friend. And neither the former vice president nor the current Supreme Court justice was subject to a more vituperative attack – by Democrat Party apparatchiks, by liberal groups, by the not-so-impartial media – than Katherine Harris, Florida's secretary of state.

Yet, while Quayle, while Thomas, became a little gun shy after suffering the slings and arrows of left-wing character assassination, Harris emerged remarkably unscathed by her tribulations. In fact, she has become a Republican superstar. The Grand Old Party's answer to Hillary Clinton.

Harris was in San Diego this week getting acquainted with local Republicans. She is stumping for a Florida congressional seat. And her campaign is drawing the same attention at the national level as Clinton's 2000 campaign for her New York Senate seat.

"Democrats say my race is a referendum on the legitimacy of the Bush presidency," said Harris. And she says she's fine with that.

For while Harris was caricaturized during the Florida recount as a political lightweight who somehow owed her high office to "connections" (like Florida Governor Jeb Bush), the reality is that she is a proven vote-getter. Harris was elected to Florida's state Senate in 1994, unseating a Democratic incumbent. In 1998, she was elected her to the office she now occupies.

And the attractive, 45-year-old woman that Democrats, their confederate special interests and their media sympathizers disparaged as "Cruella de Vil" and "Madame Defarge" is almost certain to thrash the host of challengers Democrats have thrown at her.

Including Jan Schneider, the 54-year-old lawyer who recently moved to Sarasota from Washington, D.C. She happens to be a friend and former law school classmate of Bill Clinton.

Schneider told The Washington Times that she plans to call on the former president to help her raise campaign funds. "He's worth a lot," she said, "even with the sleaze factor."

But neither Bubba nor other Democrats can raise enough money to deny Harris her congressional seat. Not the least because Florida's 13th Congressional District is solidly Republican. It backed Bush over Gore 53 percent to 41 percent.

And it's not just a matter of Harris being a pretty Republican face. She's a woman of substance, of solid conservative credentials, who runs on a record far more substantial than, say, Hillary Clinton offered New York.

Indeed, during four years in Tallahassee, Harris got 100 of her bills passed by the legislature. Including a measure raising requirements for high school graduation and a bill prohibiting underage girls from having an abortion without parental notification.

Meanwhile, Harris has one of the most varied job descriptions of any secretary of state in the country. She is responsible for the state's libraries, its cultural programs and foreign trade promotion. And, oh yes, she oversees Florida elections.

And while she proudly notes her efforts to improve her state's literacy programs and to expand its international trade volume (which has risen from $32 billion to $74 billion during her watch), among other highlights, she recognizes that she is destined to be remembered for her role in the 2000 presidential election.

The sore-losing Democrats, the still-bitter liberal special interests and the revisionist media insist, to this day, that Florida's secretary of state delivered the presidency to Bush.

That she somehow short-circuited the democratic process by not allowing recount after recount after recount (even though Bush would have prevailed under practically every conceivable scenario).

Harris does not shrink from the accusations. "I followed the law," she said, with equanimity.

And because she did not back down in the face of one of the most withering personal attacks any political figure has ever experienced, because she was so gracious under fire, because she upheld the rule of law, Harris has become a hero to Republicans the nation over.

Harris hardly could have expected such renown before the 2000 presidential election. When she gets to Washington, she ought to drop Al Gore a thank-you note.

[Jagdgewehr]

And neither the former vice president nor the current Supreme Court justice was subject to a more vituperative attack – by Democrat Party apparatchiks, by liberal groups, by the not-so-impartial media

I don't know, this could be a toss up.

[Pokey78]

Ping!

[stlrocket]

A class lady of character and integrity.

KATHLEEN HARRIS LOOKING GREAT - CERTIFY THIS!!

[alloysteel]

Got big play in the Florida papers today - especially the St. Pete (Pravda) Times - Katherine Harris, Secretary of State of Florida, who is supposed to be keeping track, had herself not followed the law, in not resigning from her post at the time she was officially entering the race for another elective office. The local press was in shrieking joy at this discovery. So a little more broken glass was scattered before the Republicans on the way to the polls.

[Wright is right!]

In Florida, you have to quit one elective office before seeking another? What kind of nonsense is THAT???

Michael

[Notforprophet]

Apparently it's another dumb law out of Floriduh.

[7thson]

Too bad that Conn. did not have that law. We would be less one lying Dem Senator.

[tom h]

I hope everyone knows that in addition to her other qualities Ms. Harris is an evangelican Christian and is unafraid to discuss her faith in public. She was a guest of Jim Dobson's one morning and she acknowledged that prayer helped her get through her trials during November and December 2000. I think we can conclude that she is also a woman of high integrity, honesty, and humility.

[Jagdgewehr]

The local press was in shrieking joy at this discovery.

Being a Democrat is so much easier. You can be the biggest scofflaw in the nation, not be held accountable for any inpropriety or crime, take, lie, and distort and still maintain an ardent constituency and get a pass from the press.

Republicans, most particularly conservatives, get even the slightest misstep or violation of some obscure law/regulations blown far out of proportion by the press and media establishment.

[FreeTally]

In Florida, you have to quit one elective office before seeking another? What kind of nonsense is THAT???

I'm not sure that this is unique to Florida.

' Anyway, a person is supposed to resign and is still the acting head of whatever until someone is appointed to that position to fill in. In the case of Secreatry of State, the position is being changed to an appointed position along with several other former positions, so no one would have been appointed until after the 2002 elections anyway. This is no big deal. The Dems will try to make it one, but its not.

[lugsoul]

It's not - the same is true of Georgia

[Jagdgewehr]

While I admire Katherine Harris for her courage during the 2000 election mess, surely it is not too much to expect the Secretary of State to be familiar with election law.

I agree, especially in regards to this violation. I believe we should hold all office holders to the upmost standards of propiety. However, I tire of the double standard in the press/media when applied to the two parties.

[gcruse]

I love that gal as much as I loved Ann Coulter before she had her libertarian-attack fest. And that's a lot.

[denydenydeny]

"He's worth a lot," she said, "even with the sleaze factor."

I loved this line. It sums up BC's entire life. It could be his epitaph.

[MeekOneGOP]

Katherine Harris, GOP superstar

Excerpt:

The sore-losing Democrats, the still-bitter liberal special interests and the revisionist media insist, to this day, that Florida's secretary of state delivered the presidency to Bush.

That she somehow short-circuited the democratic process by not allowing recount after recount after recount (even though Bush would have prevailed under practically every conceivable scenario).

Harris does not shrink from the accusations. "I followed the law," she said, with equanimity.

And because she did not back down in the face of one of the most withering personal attacks any political figure has ever experienced, because she was so gracious under fire, because she upheld the rule of law, Harris has become a hero to Republicans the nation over.

Harris hardly could have expected such renown before the 2000 presidential election. When she gets to Washington, she ought to drop Al Gore a thank-you note.

Katherine Harris

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy.

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks for the ping, btw !

Katherine Harris

[MeekOneGOP]

Katherine Harris

[ContraryMary]

BTTT

[MeekOneGOP]

Katherine Harris