The best campaign strategy for Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson to use against Katherine Harris might be to just give her the floor. She makes an effective case all by herself that she’s too mentally impaired to hold office. Her hometown paper, the Lakeland Ledger:
It turns out that when it comes to political potshots, Harris is no more cautious than Dick Cheney on a hunting trip…
Nelson, said Harris, is “weak on immigration” because he favors a bill that would provide “amnesty to illegal immigrants.”
That’s because Nelson supports a bill drafted and sponsored by — oops — his Republican counterpart from Florida, U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez.
“She’s trashing the senator of her own party,” Nelson spokesman Dan McLaughlin told The Tampa Tribune.
Hello? Katherine? Katherine’s handlers? Anybody? Somebody get research on the phone!
Nelson said last month that he favors [the Martinez] approach, “To get these people out of the shadows, working and paying taxes — which they are not — is what we need to do.”
Nelson has also proposed two amendments to the bill. One would add more beds in detention centers for illegal immigrants who will be deported. Another would increase the use of technology along the border for better patrolling.
Martinez told the Tribune that he thought the bill was “tough enough” before Nelson’s amendments, and that Nelson’s position on immigration may be tougher than his…
Harris has made it clear that Nelson is her main target. But with him standing so close to Martinez — one of the few Republicans who haven’t openly questioned her ability to win the election — Harris might want to use something other than a shotgun on the next attempt.
