AND SPEAKING OF FLORIDA... LOOKS LIKE HARRIS HAS DECIDED TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH HER FAMILY BEFORE SHE GOES TO PRISON

OK, the whole Katherine Harris thing is unraveling-- fast. She hasn't been arrested or indicted yet. But you have to have an awful lot of faith-- the cheap storefront-bought kind-- to believe she's not a criminal who is headed for some time in the woman's house of detention. As her ideological, intellectual and ethical kinsman, Randy "Duke" Cunningham, could tell her, accepting bribery from defense contractors does not pay in the long run.

Her ill-starred senatorial campaign is in the final throes of it's death spiral. She's been losing staff and canceling appearances and this weekend she gave up a chance to attend the big GOP hate fest in Memphis. According to the St. Petersburg Times, she is planning a big announcement about his campaign, in all likelihood-- much to the chagrin of Democrats-- a withdrawal. "Unfortunately, I am unable to join you this weekend, as I prayerfully prepare with my family, friends and advisers to finalize the strategy for a major announcement next week concerning my candidacy for the U.S. Senate," Harris said in a statement addressed to delegates to the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Memphis. "I will continue to look to our Founding Fathers, who pursued their vision with integrity and perseverance, to discern the best course of action for the state of Florida and our nation."

If that doesn't sound like a prelude to a withdrawal, I must be losing my mind. But Harris is widely considered both unintelligent and unpredictable. Today's Herald Tribune quotes her-- albeit sounding dangerously delusional-- saying that she isn't dropping out. "I am out there. We are running hard. We think we have great momentum." She claims that Dick "18%" Cheney, who is probably even less popular than she is (though slightly more popular than Paris Hilton), has been encouraging her to keep running.


TUESDAY UPDATE: DING DONG? SOON, VERY SOON

Today's NY TIMES, a well as half the papers in Florida, are reporting that Katherine Harris, who has neither been arrested nor even indicted on bribery charges yet, is probably going to pull out of the senate race against conservative Democrat, Bill Nelson. "She's finished," said Jim Kane, the chief pollster for Florida Voter, a nonpartisan polling organization. "It's a matter of when, not if, she's going to do it." Other Harris-watchers say she's too unstable and insane to make any predictions about her often erratic and irrational behavior and they just want to wait and see. Apparently tommorow is the day.