Florida's New Senator

November 7, 2003 3:47 PM

Florida's New Senator.Bob Graham's retiring and not running for re-election of his senate seat. It's sad to see a good senator go. But not to worry because the end of this Floridian's distinguished senatorial career marks the beginning of another... Katherine Harris for U.S. Senate 2004!
posted by gregb1007 (12 comments total)

It's no fun having an election where only half the voters are pissed off. What would be perfect would be a Katherine Harris vs. Janet Reno campaign; that would get everyone riled up.
posted by boaz at 5:05 PM on November 7, 2003

I can think of at least one one person who must be relieved.

As a Californian, I encourage Florida to elect Harris. We've been getting too much attention since the Gropinator was elected, and this would put Florida back in the spotlight.
posted by homunculus at 5:55 PM on November 7, 2003

Considering that Graham made his announcement only a week ago, with a year before the election I'll stick to the general rule that right now anyone who meets the equation Republican + notable + not convicted felon = possible candidate for open Senate seat.

As for it developing- I doubt it ultimately will. Harris won her seat in Congress because she ran in a district that was heavily Republican- against the entire state of Florida this isn't as one-sided a contest as you would think.

Harris took the Congress spot because her lifespan as Secretary of State ran out. She's not going to abandon a near-guaranteed lifetime position in Congress (like 90% of all Congressional seats are, tragically) for a shot at the Senate with only one term behind her... if she did, she'd essentially be dumber than Hillary Clinton.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 6:05 PM on November 7, 2003

I wonder if there will be a Lyndon LaRouche democrat running? I gather they give fantods when they don't declare their affiliation until after they get elected.
posted by kablam at 6:09 PM on November 7, 2003

Dean is saying Graham is on his short list for vice presidential candidate if he gets the nomination.
posted by rushmc at 7:11 PM on November 7, 2003

XQ, I think it's ridiculous how non-competitive Congressional elections are. What kind of a democracy are we if the parties redraw the districts to ensure that the incumbents never have to face any real competition.
posted by gregb1007 at 8:50 PM on November 7, 2003

the sad part is this lying, racist, self serving, ugly to core, bitch could win in a state like florida (or nearly any state in the U.S. these days) ...
posted by specialk420 at 9:57 PM on November 7, 2003

"What kind of a democracy are we if the parties redraw the districts to ensure that the incumbents never have to face any real competition?"

Representative, baby. Representative.
posted by Busithoth at 9:16 AM on November 8, 2003

specialk, if she runs for Senate, the whole Florida disenfranchisement issue will have to be dug up from the past to be covered by the media. And that's a good thing, isn't it?
posted by gregb1007 at 10:18 AM on November 8, 2003

the whole Florida disenfranchisement issue will have to be dug up from the past to be covered by the media

Yeah, cuz they cared so much about it the first go 'round....
posted by rushmc at 2:32 PM on November 8, 2003

rushmc, you are right. If anybody tries to bring it up again, you'll have the media saying "Oh those Democrats are such losers. They should forget about the 2000 election problems and move on." MeFi folks, unfortunately, would agree and say "stop flogging a dead horse."
posted by gregb1007 at 3:32 PM on November 8, 2003

Katherine Harris for U.S. Senate 2004

To the fixer of Florida 2000 go the spoils!
posted by Bag Man at 2:26 PM on November 10, 2003