First,
the lastest poll conducted Aug. 6-9 on our favourite drama queen Katherine Harris.
Nelson: 60%
Harris: 25%
Undecided: 15%
"Harris is out of the question as far as I'm concerned,'' said George Williams, 59, of Greenacres, who said he is not affiliated with either party. "I don't think she's a righteous person."
"I'm appalled that (she) does not withdraw,'' said Judy Reinach, 65, a Republican from Key Biscayne. "I don't think her credentials warrant her being in the U.S. Senate. I don't know anybody for her."
She's one step further into Alan Keyes territory. Honestly, I don't understand why they're still polling this race. Maybe because they need to write more of her
juicy stories?
The smallest things would set her off.
Buying the wrong candy for her to toss at parades. Photographing her vertically instead of horizontally. Failing to bring her favorite Starbucks beverage (extra hot venti triple latte, no fat, no foam, one Sweet'N Low).
Harris refused to comment for this story, saying in a statement that she would not respond to "unethical leaks and malicious gossip." But she made some brief comments about her staff after a campaign debate in Pinellas County last week.
"We are on a whole new upswing,'' she said. "The new staff is good, the new staff is great. That's the best thing that's happened to us ...We have a staff that's committed to me to win, not to undermine me and maybe lose, and we're excited about that."
Harris' outbursts -- which some staffers referred to as "meltdowns" -- occurred more and more frequently as the fledgling campaign took one hit after another.As she traveled to campaign events, she often criticized staff about the time or location -- even if she had suggested it. She frequently scanned the room for Katherine Harris lapel stickers and then berated staff about how few people were wearing them.
Once, she threw her cell phone at a wall. Another time she slammed a computer keyboard into a desk.
"Katherine is an actress. She really missed her calling,'' said Jamie Miller, Harris' second campaign manager who left in April. "I would always look at her and think 'Drama Queen.'"
To younger staffers, she would say "What are you, stupid?" or "That's the stupidest thing I ever heard" while complaining the campaign did not have enough Ivy League-educated employees. To older staffers, she would say,
"You ruined my life."
"I can't tell you how many times I ruined that woman's life,'' said Dornan, her first campaign manager.
Harris often worried about the small things most candidates happily leave to their staff: the booking of an airline ticket, the seating arrangement on the campaign bus, the color of posters."She's thick into thin things," Mike Miller said. "She would obsess on the little things.''
She sent her business cards back several times as she changed her mind about the format, shade of blue, type of flag design. She would rewrite every speech and press release.
"She gets sidetracked on all these peripheral issues," Dornan said. "They take on a life of their own."
Staffers would give Harris lists of potential donors to call only to find out later that she would rearrange the order, color and font on the spreadsheets.
"She micromanaged to the Nth degree," Dunsmore said. "It was just too much. I watched people just wilt."
Then this latest incident, McBride wants Harris apology A co-chairwoman of Harris' Senate campaign says she was told by a staffer to ask McBride a racially sensitive question.
. The gifts just keep coming...
U.S. Senate candidate Will McBride demanded an apology from Republican rival Katherine Harris Friday after learning that the person who asked him a racially charged question at a debate works for Harris.
Jackie Brownhill, identified as a co-chairwoman for the Harris campaign in the Tampa Bay area, asked McBride why he changed his name from Rodriguez in front of a crowd last week at a Pinellas County Republican club forum.
McBride, who has grandmothers from Mexico and the Dominican Republic, denied he had changed his name.
It "is more compelling proof that Ms. Harris should apologize clearly and sincerely for the outrageous remarks of a member of her campaign organization," McBride said Friday. "How sad it is that Katherine Harris lacks the grace to admit that her campaign team has acted at the very least callously, and apologize for their actions."
At the time, Brownhill, who was wearing a Harris sticker, said a Harris campaign staffer had instructed her to ask. She also said of McBride, "He doesn't look American."
Harris' office did not return calls asking about Brownhill late Friday.
In the past week, Harris has refused to apologize and said no one currently affiliated with the campaign asked Brownhill to do that. But she said later an unidentified campaign aide discussed a possible name change with her.
"It would be a stupid campaign strategy to set someone up to do that," Harris said at a later campaign forum. "I can assure you that neither I or anyone on my management team would ever do something like that."
But Harris later told reporters she was investigating the situation and would fire anyone she found who was involved.
Just found this [article: Back Our Troops, Harris Urges
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060812/NEWS/608120359/1004]
Harris, who was reared in Bartow, said she'd been to Iraq a couple of times and on one of her visits she learned of Tal Afar and how an Iraqi-led effort had killed 900 al-Qaida members in that Iraqi city.
...
But Bush, and other published reports, have referred to the battles as killing only about 150 terrorists.
Harris said she got her number that is five times greater than the president's from "briefers" when she was in Iraq in February.
"They're (al-Qaida) not here in the United States because they (the military) were there," Harris said. "So they (U.S. troops) are making an extraordinary effort."
Harris' differing casualty totals did not surprise her opposition in the Senate race against Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.
"I don't know if the numbers are close to reality, but I know Katherine Harris is not," said Dan McLaughlin, a spokesman for Nelson.
When asked whether Harris might be tying inflated al-Qaida casualty numbers to the headlines and the recent terrorist airline plot quashed by the British, McLaughlin said he "was not a shrink" and would not comment on her motive. But he did remember another Harris faux pas. That's when Harris talked about a foiled terrorist plot to blow up the power grid of an Indiana community.
Harris later admitted there was no such plot.
"So I would say that Ms. Harris is prone to making exaggerations and inaccurate statements," McLaughlin said.
Harris is becoming so radioactive that it's very hard to find any article that is not ridiculing her bizarre behavior. She really needs a shrink instead of running for senate.