KATHERINE HARRIS-- THE DRAGON LADY OF GOP POLITICS... SHE'S BACK

Tuesday Katherine Harris did what the Republican Establishment tried to get her not to do-- she announced that she would run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Bill Nelson. Last Friday I wrote some stuff about why this race is so crucial to the Bush Crime Syndicate in a piece called THE REAL STORY IN FLORIDA IS NOT ABOUT FOUL-MOUTHED TRAITOR BOB NOVAK GETTING A TIME OUT FROM CNN and why George and Bush have been trying-- unsuccessfully-- to recruit a credible candidate to oppose Harris in the GOP primary. Harris is very popular among the extreme rightists who are grateful that she changed history and stole the 2000 election from Gore, giving America it's first illegitimate, unelected-- and most pathetic-- president, George W. Bush. Democrats and independents, on the other hand, don't think malfeasance and high treason are qualification for higher office.

All statewide opinion polls, including those commissioned by the Repugs and other right wing organizations, show Harris significantly trailing the conservative Nelson, a former congressman and state insurance commissioner who was originally elected to the Senate in 2000. Harris kicked off her campaign by complaining that she was made into the butt of jokes because of her gross, if not grotesque, over-use of make-up. She claims un-named newspapers added color and intensity to the make-up that made her look like a clown (and frightened small children). Anyone who saw her on TV or in magazines while she was Florida Secretary of State and simultaneously Bush's Florida Campaign Chairman, clearly saw a woman trying to cover up an awful lot of something with an awful lot of cosmetics. But in a typical right-wing attempt to deny reality, she's now claiming the media just made her look that hideous. So far it is the only issue the media has focused on in the crucial Florida race, although Senator Nelson hasn't commented.

After Harris, wearing her Secretary of State hat (and rumored to have been a former Jeb Bush mistress), certified that George Bush had beaten Al Gore by 537 votes, before a recount proved that Gore had won a significant victory in Florida, she ran for Congress in a safe Republican district. She nearly lost twice and is widely viewed as the Republican least likely to beat Nelson in the general election. Florida Democrats are hopeful that they will not just retain the Senate seat but that they will also win the House seat she is giving up. According to a Reuters story on Harris' announcement, she is claiming "she would run as a conservative but progressive candidate." Neither Reuters nor Harris decided to explain what that means but perhaps it refers to the fact that the GOP-- and Harris' complete lock-step, party-line voting record in Congress-- have gotten progressively more and more conservative. I noticed that the newspapers and tv stations have lately stopped adding buckets of make-up to her look.