LOOKS LIKE THE BELL IS TOLLING FOR KATHERINE HARRIS

No one-- other than, in all likelihood, Bill Nelson-- ever wanted to see dim-bulb Republican lightning rod Katherine Harris run for the U.S. Senate. But myopic Republicans promised her that if she didn't run in '04 she could have the Party's support in '06. She backed away and let Mel Martinez get the nomination. And when '06 rolled around she had every expectation that Republican leaders would honor their promise and support her bid. She probably still hasn't figured out that words like "honor" and "promise" don't mean anything to politicians, and particularly not to power-crazed right-wing politicians.

So... there was a bit of an impasse. The lunatic fringe of the Florida GOP that has been programmed to faithfully turn out for primaries like wind-up dolls, mostly the real Dead-Enders, love their dramatic, election-stealin' big-haired crazy Katherine. Moderate Republicans... not so excited. Independents... even less so. And Democrats... well, there's not a politician in the state that will get more Democrats to the polls than Katherine Harris. That's where the impasse comes in: shoe-in for the primary; sure loser for the general election against conservative Democratic incumbent Nelson.

The hapless Elizabeth Dole, head of the RSCC-- the one person who actually makes Chuck Schumer look like Einstein-- did her best to recruit a viable candidate. Her best wasn't good enough, even when the Bush Brothers (real ingrates considering what Cruella did for those two) weighed in against Harris. But viable Republican after Republican-- from some right-wing general who lives down there to every state official short of county dogcatcher-- passed on the opportunity. (Closeted gay Congressman Mark Foley kept raising his hand and clearing his throat and eventually someone had to explain to him that the other party is the one that allows gays to run for office so STFU and hope the sugarcane farmers and church ladies west of West Palm never figure out what you do when the lights go out.)

Republicans didn't like it but what could they do? And they grumpily and belatedly came around to getting behind Harris. Everybody made nice and kissed and made up and... her campaign imploded. Her staff quit. She got another staff. They quit too. She came under the thrall of a Rasputin-like preacher who turned the already reeling campaign into a cynical revival crusade. Everyone who hadn't quit, then quit. The RSCC had already written Florida off as unwinable but now local GOP officeholders who were up for re-election realized that Katherine's reverse coattails could drag them down too. And then it got worse-- much worse.

Rumors questioning her sanity are one thing-- after all, this is the GOP we're talking about-- but when her name started popping up in the bribery scandals being aggressively investigated after the conviction of several of Harris' cronies, like Randy "Duke" Cunningham-- and when she was named by Mitchell Wade, one of the Republican bribers as someone who he had bribed and who had done some crooked earmarks for him in return... well, that was... a bad couple weeks in Tallahassee. The Party unity of a few weeks earlier got flushed down the toilette and Republicans started re-approaching potential challengers, telling them Harris is "dead meat."

They finally found a vulture candidate to go for it, multimillionaire, State House Speaker Allan Bense. Pushed, shoved, dragged into the race by Jeb Bush-- with the support of virtually every Republican officeholder in the state-- Bense has done everything but make it official. And Friday is the deadline.

But, as the TAMPA TRIBUNE pointed out a couple days ago, "Even with bad publicity, over her indirect link to a congressional bribery scandal and defections from her staff, Harris remains far better known than Bense and highly popular among hard-core Republicans. She also appears willing to spend her personal wealth on her campaign. Nor would Bense be immune from intensified scrutiny of his business dealings, including a landfill where questions have been raised about asbestos dumping while he was an investor." Should be quite a race... between two monstrosities.

And, although Jeb and his brother were all lovey dovey with Harris today, the tubby Guv had noisily told the press last week that he thinks Bense would make "a great United States senator" and that he hopes someone challenges Harris. Kicking her in the groin when she was flat out on the matt, Bush said, "I have doubts about whether she can win." Really?


WEDNESDAY UPDATE: BENSE IS OUT OF THE RACE (AGAIN)

Allen Bense has decided not to challenge crazy Kathy for the GOP nod, despite urgings from Jeb Bush. Bense feels he just can't afford to have his crooked finances and questionable ethics come under scrutiny again. So it looks like Bill Nelson is breathing a sigh of relief since he'll be facing someone who is likely to finish up the campaign in either a mental hospital or a prison cell.