Senate Candidates Divided On Immigration Issue (Harris, Nelson)

WESH TV Channel 2 Winter Park, FL ^ | 10-14-06 | Greg Fox

[Joe Brower]

Florida Freeper

[ExSES]

A) her name recognition scared all good candidates away in the primary

Why the hell didn't Jeb Bush run? She wouldn't have run against HIS NAME RECOGNITION! He could have resigned for some reason allowing Crist to appoint his successor (though I'm sure you really despise the fact that Crist is running!!!).

Coulda, woulda, shoulda is pointless!

[BillCompton]

Just exactly WHO IS this conservative Republican candidate that was likely to beat Nelson?

We have any number of people who could have had a good shot. But none of them could have beaten Harris. So here is the logic:

Harris, with near 100% name recognition would prevail against all the lesser known candidates because Harris has a solid base of supporters in the Republican party. But, she has high negatives among independants and even among Republicans. Plus, she has no crossover appeal to Democrats.

So, she easily could win the Republican nomination against just about anybody except Jeb Bush, but she could not win the General Election against Nelson. Those were the facts then. They are the facts now. State and National Republicans were a 100% right.

Now, suppose she had done what the party asked her to do and had stepped aside. Then, instead of the neophyte candidates that she ran against, serious candidates would have slugged it out. Then, the party could have gotten behind the candidate and INTRODUCED him or her to state. Nelson has a very low name recognition and is a very weak candidate. It would have been a horse race. But, there is no way to rehabilitate Harris' image when people decided in 2000 what they thought of her. There is just nothing to work with.

[Happy Valley Dude]

I hope this plays prominently in her TV ads

What TV ads? Early voting starts in less than two weeks and she had yet to run a TV commercial. She said that she was going to give her campaign $10 million. What is that money being spent on?

[CremeSaver]

I think she is going to do a close to the election TV/newspaper blitz. It would seem it is the only option that she has now.

[Happy Valley Dude]

I think she is going to do a close to the election TV/newspaper blitz.

By then most voters will already have made up thier minds. Eraly voting starts is about to start.

[BritExPatInFla]

Everyone elses waited to see if she was going to be supported or replaced by a real candidate, when the end of qualifying came up, and neither happened, a couple no-names threw their hats in. She beat 3 no-names in the primaries, and not by a hell of alot overall.

[William Tell]

BillCompton said: "We have any number of people who could have had a good shot. But none of them could have beaten Harris."

I was asking what the NAME of the person is. I wanted to contrast that person's political stance with that of Harris to evaluate whether such a person is worth electing.

Here in Kalifornia we have the very electable Arnold. If the economy hadn't recovered, Arnold would have been recalled just like his predecessor Davis, and for the same reason; that the state would be plummeting into bankruptcy.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

her name recognition scared all good candidates away in the primary

Baloney. If you don't have the will to run, you don't have it. Has nothing to do with Harris "scaring" the other candidates and everything to do with the other candidates themselves too chicken to enter the race.

The Republican party at the state and national level told her she would get killed, as the polls are now indicating

So...why didn't they field a good candidate against her in the primary if they know she's going to get "killed?" Again I ask - Bense, Franks, Jeb...WHY THE HECK DIDN'T THEY RUN???

She obviously cares more about selfish desires than to see a conservative Republican as Florida Senator.

Hello - she IS a conservative Republican. You're not going to get a better conservative Republican than Harris for this race.

Her selfishness could be the difference between Harry Reid being the Majority leader or the Minority leader.

Ain't gonna happen because Nelson is the incumbent and the GOP establishment has already figured in a possible Harris loss into the majority equation. So your point is moot.

None of the above is arguable. What good is support when nothing the candidate believes matters because she has absolutely no chance of winning and fighting to institute those beliefs.

More FL MSM talking points. She won her primary fair and square you simply can't refute that.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Everyone elses waited to see if she was going to be supported or replaced by a real candidate, when the end of qualifying came up, and neither happened, a couple no-names threw their hats in.

Sorry, if you're serious about running for a Senate seat, you don't "sit back" and worry about who's endorsing who and who's running. YOU FRICKING RUN, and disregard all the mumbo-jumbo about Harris and concentrate ON YOUR CANDIDACY.

She beat 3 no-names in the primaries, and not by a hell of alot overall.

This isn't horseshoes or hand grenades. A victory is a victory is a victory.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Now, suppose she had done what the party asked her to do and had stepped aside.

She did that already when Martinez wanted the seat in 2002. So she should just kow-tow to the establishment again?

Is Harris a rebellious teen or something and the GOP is her parents?

[BillCompton]

She did that already when Martinez wanted the seat in 2002. So she should just kow-tow to the establishment again?

So are you complaining about Mel Martinez? Is he not conservative enough for you? Florida should have two Republican Senators.

Is Harris a rebellious teen or something and the GOP is her parents?

I don't think she has the maturity of a teen. She is a spoiled brat. She absolutely believes this is all about her. She did the right thing when she stepped aside for Martinez. She is way out of her league at this level and it shows. She is a terrible candidate. She has problems with the truth. She puts self first above the party. She has cost us a Senate seat that we could have probably won. Larry Sabato said she was doomed from the moment of her primary victory and everyone with an ounce of political sense knew it then. And we were right. Politics is the art of the possible.

[BritExPatInFla]

A victory over 3 nobodies doesn't equal a victory against an established sitting senator, though, whith Katherine will find out in a few weeks.