In literally the final hour before today’s qualifying deadline, two candidates surfaced to challenge U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.) for the opportunity to beat U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) this fall.
Jeb’s first choice, Speaker of the House Rep. Allan Bense (R), kept everyone guessing wrong until the last minute that he would decide to run. The seat is just too coveted — and the Bush brothers just too contemptuous of the woman who prostituted herself to put W. in power — to let it go without a fight.
Indeed, the president’s visit to Florida earlier this week should have provided Harris a photo opp to counter the governor’s constantly voiced doubts about her ability to beat Nelson. Instead, as Orlando Sentinel Columnist Mike Thomas put it, the president kept so far away from Harris, “it could have been a public-service announcement on bird-flu-greeting protocol.”
Today two dark horses appeared, one hand-picked by Karl Rove. According to the Lakeland Ledger, Harris’ hometown newspaper, they are William McBride, an Orlando personal injury lawyer, and Peter Monroe, a developer. McBride — a family friend — is Rove’s choice.
Meanwhile, Harris grabbed the spotlight back with her oddly timed announcement that she will spend the weekend in a class to renew her concealed weapons permit, lapsed after she first obtained it in the wake of death threats during the 2000 election theft.
“For me, I just want to have a permit in an overabundance of caution,” she said. “I want to go ahead with getting it for practical purposes.”
…The visit to the gun range will double as a photo op, with media invited to broadcast images of Harris that could play well with gun rights advocates.
The range is at the aptly named Hallelujahland Ranch, “owned by James F. Griffin III, a member of the local Republican Executive Committee.”
Don’t let Harris’ firepower scare you, boys. I doubt she’ll pull down on you unless it looks like you’re going to shoot first. Or win.
