Republicans have just two female candidates for Senate in 2006, Jeanine Pirro in New York and Katherine Harris in Florida. Yet for various reasons, the Republican establishment is working to push both of them out of the race. The preferred tactic? Seed rumors among political reporters that the two will be exiting the race soon. Such rumors put the candidates on the defensive, serve to dry up fundraising, which then serves as further ammunition for those trying to push them out.
Yesterday, Bob Novak wrote that Harris was on her way out, while the New York media was all over the story that Pirro was also reconsidering her bid. Today, both women reiterated that they're in their respective races to stay.
Pirro:
After weeks of public squabbling, leaders of the New York Republican Party met in a smoke-free back room here today and reversed course, urging Jeanine F. Pirro to run for state attorney general next year instead of the United States Senate, the office they recruited her for six months ago.
Mrs. Pirro, the district attorney of Westchester County, immediately replied that she would continue her challenge against Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, and chose to interpret the party's plea as a sign of "confidence" in her abilities.
Harris:
U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris on Monday denied a claim by syndicated columnist Robert Novak that she might abandon her 2006 bid for the U.S. Senate.
"The statements in Mr. Novak's column are completely absurd," Harris, R-Longboat Key, said in a statement. "I am in this campaign until Election Day next November."
Novak wrote Sunday that unnamed Republican insiders think that Harris, whose campaign against Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson has gotten off to a rocky start, could drop out of the race.