Florida Mirrors GOP Election Problems

U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, R-Fla., right, arrives with an unidentified man before a debate in Davie, Fla. Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2006. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter) (J. Pat Carter - AP)

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Katherine Harris, once a star in the Republican firmament, could turn out to be a two-time loser for the GOP.

Not only is she trailing badly in the polls in her attempt to unseat Sen. Bill Nelson, but the seat she has held in the House for the past four years is suddenly in jeopardy of falling to the Democrats.

"It's a shame for the Republican Party, isn't it," said Jim Hamilton, 45, a Republican who is on the fence about whether to vote for Harris.

Harris' decision to run for the Senate isn't the only case of political ambition complicating GOP efforts to maintain a majority in the House this fall. In all, there are 22 GOP-held open seats on the ballot, and strategists in both parties agree that Democrats lead in races in Arizona, Colorado, Ohio, and Texas as well as the one Harris holds.

In some respects, Florida is the Republicans' problems in microcosm. Rep. Clay Shaw faces a difficult challenge from Ron Klein, but one that party strategists knew months ago they would face. Not so the race for Harris' seat, and doubly not so for the district that Rep. Mark Foley represented until he resigned from Congress on Sept. 29 after being confronted with sexually explicit computer messages he had sent to teenage male pages.

Harris rose to national prominence in 2000, as Florida's secretary of state, the chief elections official in the state whose presidential balloting triggered a fistful of lawsuits. Eventually, the state's electoral votes went to Bush, and with them, the White House.

Harris has trailed Nelson for months, but it was relatively recently, as the overall political environment worsened for Republicans, that it became clear that her House seat might go Democratic.

Now, less than two weeks in advance of the elections, President Bush is slated to attend a rally and fundraiser in the Florida district Tuesday.

The race pits Republican Vern Buchanan, 55, a car dealership owner and businessman, against 60-year-old banker Christine Jennings. In early September, Buchanan emerged from a five-way GOP primary bruised, battered and with 32 percent of the vote.

"He won the primary primarily because he had the most money," said Aubrey Jewett, a University of Central Florida political science professor. "But it's looking now that he's not the strongest candidate Republicans could put up in a year when Democrats are making ethics a big issue."

Buchanan, 55, owns a car dealership and several other businesses. His primary opponents constantly questioned his business dealings, citing lawsuits and accusing him of setting up companies in Caribbean countries to avoid paying taxes.

Jennings has continued the onslaught, airing ads that say, "Buchanan has been sued dozens of times, defaulting on loans, failing to pay taxes. That's too corrupt, even for Washington."