FL-Sen: Harris is pathetic

by Chris Bowers, Thu Jul 21, 2005 at 09:52:58 PM EST

Not only is Harris in serious trouble against Nelson according to recent polls, and not only will she face the challanges of incumbency without any of the benefits because of her high name ID nad low favorables, but she is a really, really crappy fundraiser:
One would think that U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, who many regard as the Republican heavyweight in the race for U.S. Senate, would see a spike in campaign contributions after her announcement June 7 that she was running for the seat.

Her fundraising capabilities and name recognition are supposed to make her the favorite against any primary challenger, even if Republican leaders and the White House aren't firmly behind her campaign. But an analysis of the contributions cataloged by the Federal Elections Commission may suggest otherwise.

From June 7 through June 30, Friends of Katherine Harris, Harris' campaign committee, received $13,000 worth of contributions from donors such as Ernst & Young and Marriott International.

Let's put this in perspective. Paul Hackett has raised more than ten times that amount online alone. He raised more than $120K online in the last week, and he is running for Congress, not Senate. The campaign my brother Mark is working on, Ted Nixon for Monroe County Legislature (Monroe County includes Rochester, NY and its suburbs), has raised more than $13K. And that is a campaign for county legislature, not U.S. Senate.

There is no friggin' way Harris can beat Nelson. My only worry now is that she won't be the Republican nominee. As long as she is in the race, however, Florida Senate is now likely Dem. And to think that just three months ago it was lean-Republican.




Tags: Senate 2006 (all tags)

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Beware (none / 0)

I wouldn't get too confident, cause if she can't raise the money to run a primary, she's vulernable. And Nelson is probably in more trouble against anyone but her.
by upstatenydem on Thu Jul 21, 2005 at 10:16:16 PM EST

In the words of Nelson Munz (none / 0)

HA HA!
John McCain wants to stay in Iraq for a century.
by jkfp2004 on Thu Jul 21, 2005 at 10:17:13 PM EST

primary (none / 0)

Hmm, I say we stop talking about how bad of a general election candidate she'll be.  The more we talk about it, the more everyone will talk about it, and the greater the chance that she'll lose the primary.
Rudy Giuliani hates firefighters. And puppies.
by Fran for Dean on Thu Jul 21, 2005 at 11:10:15 PM EST

Cash (none / 0)

So, do Dems give money to her now to prop her up into the general election?  Blasphemy I know, but...
by bmr12 on Thu Jul 21, 2005 at 11:34:58 PM EST

This should be a very good sign (none / 0)

...that Harris is DOA in the Republican Primary.
by Mr Moderate on Fri Jul 22, 2005 at 12:05:45 AM EST

Maybe Democrats Should Start Giving Her Money (none / 0)

so she doesn't get blown out of the primary.
by Paul Rosenberg on Fri Jul 22, 2005 at 12:08:11 AM EST

She can write a check to herself (none / 0)

While she certainly can not self finiance a state wide Senate race in FL, I believe she can write a check for herself in the couple of million range.  Beware, rich people have rich friends and I would not under estimate her ability to raise big cash.  As another poster pointed out, its a long way till Nov. '06.
by KBowe on Fri Jul 22, 2005 at 10:19:24 AM EST

County Legislature? (none / 0)

Is that like County Commission? I've never actually heard that term before. Interseting.
by MNPundit on Fri Jul 22, 2005 at 12:07:28 PM EST

Harris of Florida (none / 0)

Guys, this all quite simple; she's not raising money because the repug establishment is puting on the squeeze. They know she's dead meat, so they're shutting off the faucet until they decide which alternative slug they want to back.
by thelonius on Fri Jul 22, 2005 at 03:20:49 PM EST

Bushco must have turned off the faucets (none / 0)

There's no question that a few well-placed phone calls from members of the Bush entourage would have brought in tons of money. Clearly they used Harris when it was advantageous for them to do so, and now they are tossing her aside. Couldn't happen to a nicer person!

I am still quite worried about this seat, not only because the GOP will likely nominate someone else, but also because of my serious qualms about the voting machines in Florida.

Join the Iowa progressive community at Bleeding Heartland.
by desmoinesdem on Fri Jul 22, 2005 at 05:44:30 PM EST

Coming Late to the Party (none / 0)

But I felt I had to splash a little bit of water to douse the excitement generated by this story.  While it's certainly true that the fundraising by Harris has been rather anemic since she announced her intention to run for the Senate, it would also be wise to note that during the entire quarter, her campaign committee reported raising a total of approximately $400,000.  So far in 2005, she's raised $813,791, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.  While this significantly trails the $3,408,470 raised in 2005 by Sen. Bill Nelson, it's not quite the embarrassment we'd all like it to be.

I despise her as much as the next reader here, and seriously doubt that the Bush Administration (either in DC or Tallahassee) really wants her in the race, but the likelihood of her winning the GOP primary will probably be the best thing to ensure Nelson's re-election.

by The Maven on Fri Jul 22, 2005 at 10:20:31 PM EST


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