Senate Contender in Florida Presses On
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By MARK LEIBOVICH
Published: June 7, 2006
VENICE, Fla. — Undaunted by a run of horrific poll numbers, staff turmoil and public doubts from leaders of her party, Representative Katherine Harris is thinking confidently beyond November.
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Chip Litherland for The New York Times
Representative Katherine Harris, a Republican, with Fred DiMasi, a World War II veteran, at a Memorial Day event in Sarasota, Fla.
Chip Litherland for The New York Times
Katherine Harris, who plans to participate in a program to train guide dogs, greeted Lucy, a poodle from Sarasota, on Memorial Day.
Once Ms. Harris wins her race for a Senate seat, she says, she plans to travel everywhere with a guide dog.
"Before I hire anyone to work for me in the Senate, I tell them I'm going to do this," said Ms. Harris, the former Florida secretary of state best — or worst — remembered for her role in the state's election recount of 2000.
Ms. Harris explains that she intends to participate in a program that provides guide dogs for volunteers to train. While cynics may assign unflattering symbolism to a politician who is not blind being led around the Capitol by a guide dog, Ms. Harris is undeterred — by this or by the perception that her role in 2000 makes her too divisive to lure the swing voters necessary to defeat the incumbent Democrat, Bill Nelson.
In her insistence on running, Ms. Harris has become something of a pariah among many of the people whose power she indirectly helped ensure five and a half years ago, as overseer of the recount that sealed George W. Bush's victory.
Top White House officials, Republican operatives and Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida have urged her not to run. When Ms. Harris ignored those entreaties, a Who's Who of national Republicans begged a Who's Who of Florida Republicans to oppose her in the primary, to no avail.
Her campaign has been marked by aides leaving en masse, disclosures of her ties to a contractor caught up in a lobbying scandal and the fund-raising handicaps inherent to any enterprise perceived as a lost cause or, worse, a joke.
Ed Rollins, one of Ms. Harris's many former campaign consultants, claimed she had told him that God wanted her to stay in the race. (Ms. Harris denies making the statement.)
She promised to finance her campaign with $10 million of her own money. Popular wisdom says that will not matter. Mr. Nelson led Ms. Harris by more than 30 points in recent polls.
"She has absolutely no chance of winning," said former Representative Joe Scarborough, a Pensacola Republican who was courted strongly by the National Republican Senatorial Committee to oppose Ms. Harris but declined. Mr. Scarborough, the host of "Scarborough Country" on MSNBC, said Ms. Harris "seems to be detached from reality these days."
Because of her role in the 2000 recount, Ms. Harris still enjoys devotion from many Florida Republicans, enough to make her the likely winner over three little-known opponents for her party's nomination. Her supporters applaud avidly at Republican events and cannot understand her sudden unpopularity among party leaders.
"She acted exactly the way the Republicans wanted her to act," said Stanley Tate, a Miami businessman who serves as her campaign's finance chairman. Mr. Tate said he was "completely confused" by the party establishment's snubbing of Ms. Harris. He tells of a recent Republican dinner in Miami where Ms. Harris received a standing ovation from the crowd yet was not acknowledged in a speech by Governor Bush.
On Memorial Day, Ms. Harris rode in a parade and visited two Veterans of Foreign Wars halls and one American Legion post, and was not audibly jeered or heckled by anyone, a fact that surprises even her, "based on the press I get."
Between stops, Ms. Harris portrays herself as something of a populist under siege from "Washington Republicans" and a liberal news media. "I don't have the Beltway mentality," she said. "And I never go along to get along. So I think it's a little threatening to those in power."
She said that given the difficult environment for incumbent Republicans in November, it could be an asset to be perceived as a nonfavorite of the party establishment.
"O.K., so President Bush does not support her," said Representative John L. Mica, a Florida Republican who is close to Ms. Harris. "President Bush is at 30 percent." Mr. Mica added that Ms. Harris was previously criticized for being "a tool of the Bushes," which should not be a problem anymore.
Even so, the role of anti-establishment figure is unusual for Ms. Harris, the product of a well-to-do Central Florida family and a granddaughter of a cattle and citrus baron. She became a well-known socialite in the Sarasota area and has long been active in the state's Republican Party. She is married to a Swedish businessman, Anders Ebbeson, and they have listed assets of as much as $37 million.
In Congress, Ms. Harris has been a reliable ally of the Bush administration on issues like tax cuts, Iraq and opposition to same-sex marriage. She has done little in her three-and-a-half-year tenure to win notice beyond her district — one exception being a speech in which she spoke of a foiled terrorist plot against the city of Carmel, Ind. (Federal officials said the plot never existed; Ms. Harris later said she had heard of it secondhand.)
The belief among top Republicans was that Ms. Harris's presence in 2006 would galvanize Democrats still eager for revenge after 2000.
"The campaign can't be about her," Governor Bush told reporters last month. "I gave her that exact advice. Since then, it's gotten worse."
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