Saturday, July 01, 2006

Harris Sunk

The folks over at Red State are pondering whether Senator Bill Nelson is weak enough that the GOP should start aggressively helping Katherine Harris' campaign. The answer is clearly 'no.' Look at the latest poll:

Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Katherine Harris?
Favorable 20%
Unfavorable 58%
Undecided 22%

Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Bill Nelson?
Favorable 48%
Unfavorable 14%
Undecided 38%

There's no way to spin that as a winnable race for Harris. Her negative rating is 44% higher than that of Nelson, and only 22% of Florida voters haven't made up their minds about her. Stick a fork in her - she's done. She's not even all that strong in the Republican primary, despite the fact that her opponents are relative unknows.

If Bill Nelson were weak enough, the only proper response would be to aggressively support one of Harris' obscure challengers in the primary. But Nelson is not that weak, and there are competitive Senate races in New Jersey, Minnesota, Maryland, Montana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, and Washington. And even the races in Nebraska, West Virginia, and Arizona figure to be more competive than the Nelson race. This is almost the LAST place the GOP should make a serious effort.

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