Given we're backed up against the wall in the Senate, any and all good news is greatly appreciated. Today, we get two doses.
First of all, rumors are swirling that Gary Hart will run for Senate in Colorado. The former Senator flirted with a presidential bid, until he recognized what many others didn't -- that his chances didn't look so hot. The Senate, however, is a different beast.
The two-term senator and two-time presidential candidate recently discussed a possible bid with national and state party leaders who are urging him to jump in, said Democratic sources in Washington and Colorado who requested anonymity.
"It's serious enough that he's pondering the 'how to' aspect of the campaign," said one Democratic official. "He thinks if he got in this race he would win, but he's got a lot of other factors that weigh into this and this is obviously a big jump."
Hart has not set a timeframe for making a decision, and he declined to comment on his prospects. Several polls have pit Hart and Campbell head-to-head with favorable results, said the source, who declined to be specific.
If he's going to run, he better decide soon. (And I would love to see those polls.)
(Via TalkLeft)
Meanwhile, Cruella Deville is giving Rove the middle finger, having decided that her personal ambitions were more important than the chances of the presidential ticket she helped fraudulently install in 2000. That's right, Katherine Harris seems ready to announce a senatorial bid.
U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris has decided whether she will run for retiring Sen. Bob Graham's seat and plans to reveal her plans next week, associates said Wednesday.
Harris did not return calls for comment, but supporters said she is leaning toward entering the race.
She would become the instant front-runner in a crowded field of Republicans while also stirring up memories of the 2000 presidential election recount. As secretary of state, Harris oversaw the disputed count that gave George W. Bush a crucial 537-vote victory in Florida.
A spokesman for Harris said she was still considering the race and an announcement might come next week. But others close to her said she has already made up her mind.
"She knows what she's going to do," said Margaret Wise, a friend and campaign finance chairwoman.
Sarasota County's GOP chairman, Tramm Hudson, said he spoke to Harris Tuesday night and that she seemed ready to run.
Now this may all be a trial balloon, designed to gauge reaction. It may be a ploy to exact concessions from Bush/Rove in exchange for not running.
Or it's true, and she's bucking the will of her party:
But as Harris appears to grow more confident in a bid, some in her party grow more nervous.
''She would significantly energize Democrats, not only in Florida but around the country,'' said Jim Smith, a Republican lobbyist and former secretary of state who said he is pinning his hopes on Martinez.
One senior GOP operative in Washington said Monday that Harris will not get the encouragement she wants from the White House, and that if she runs, ``the entire campaign in Florida becomes a rehash of the recount.''
Harris said Monday that she has had little contact with White House officials.
Later on, Harris claimed Rove phoned her and told her the White House was neutral in the race. But they are not. There's a reason they pushed Mel Martinez into the race -- to offer a Cuban-American candidate that could help the party in terms of diversity, and as a sop to the state's loyal Cuban community. AND they think he would act as a firewall against Harris.
But no way Harris loses the nomination. She's a hero to the Right, and will raise bookoo bucks.
The question now becomes what effect she'll have in the general. Will she inspire new levels of Democratic turnout that can 1) defeat her, and maybe even 2) defeat Bush?
I don't pretend to have an answer. The GOP certainly is worried, and they probably have polling to justify their concerns.
But wouldn't that be the sweetest irony? A proper bookend to the travesty of 2000? Katherine Harris -- the very person that helped subvert Democracy in 2000, the cause of Bush's 2004 ouster?
(TAP had some good stuff on a potential Harris candidacy back in November.)