Sad News from Florida

Though there is hope that she will engage in amusing post-election antics, the impending defeat* of Katherine Harris by Ben Nelson in Florida means that Krazy Kathy won't be bringing laughter to the world for much longer. In the meantime, the Palm Beach Post has an interesting factoid:

There are 22 daily newspapers in Florida.

All 22 have endorsed Bill Nelson for re-election to the U.S. Senate.

The first was The Palm Beach Post, the latest two on Sunday were The Orlando Sentinel and the Jacksonville-based Florida Times-Union.

The only newspaper that has endorsed Republican candidate Harris is ironically named the Polk County Democrat, published four days a week in Harris' girlhood hometown, Bartow.

That's harsh. The fact that Katherine Harris is the strongest candidate that the GOP could find in a state where the President's brother is the governor is pretty sad.

* - Then again, maybe not...

Katherine Harris Florida Politics 2006 Election

Fidel and U.S. Politics

Florida Sen. Mel Martinez, as reported by the Miami Herald, seems to think that Cuba is preparing the Cuban people for news of Castro's death. Comparing it to the Spain's slow dissemination, over the course of a few days, of the news that Franco had died, Martinez said "You would trickle it out, you would try to avoid the shock to the Cuban people."

I don't know whether to believe that Castro's dead just yet, but I do believe that if Castro were to die in the coming months, it could have a great effect on U.S. politics. I'm not the only one. Here's The Atlantic's James Fallows, providing a possible dispatch from the future:

And in 2008 [the Democrats] were unexpectedly saved by the death of Fidel Castro. This drained some of the pro-Republican passion of South Florida's Cuban immigrants, and the disastrous governmental bungling of the "Cuba Libre" influx that followed gave the Democrats their first win in Florida since 1996-—along with the election.

Could this happen?

Sure, why not. But just as easily, a government more threatening to the United States could come to power. Or a terrible humanitarian crisis could follow the death of Castro (or the fall of his government)necessitatingg some sort of military response. We all have beenprogrammedd to believe that the GOP is the better party when guns are involved (and so has the electorate) so a possible Democratic advantage could just as easily become a Republican advantage.

We do, however, have one thing going for us. If the fall of Cuban Communism happens under the Bush Administration's watch, we can almost beguaranteedd that the response will be bungled. What has BushCo. gotten right?

With some luck, Georgie and Friends won't screw up anythingpermanentlyy and the Democrats will actually be able to capitalize on it, at least as far as Florida's 27 electoral votes.

Florida Democrats Republicans Cuban-Americans Fidel Castro Cuba

29% of Floridians are... Nuts?

A Mason-Dixon poll shows Rep. Katherine Harris trailing Sen. Bill Nelson by a stunning 28 percentage points.

Were the election held now, Nelson would best Harris 57 percent to 29 percent, according to the poll of 625 registered Florida voters that has an error margin of four percentage points. Only 14 percent were undecided.

All of this begs the question: Who, exactly, makes up the 29% of the public that thinks having Katherine Harris in the Senate would be a good thing?

I understand party loyalty. I understand being opposed to parts of Bill Nelson's platform. But really, you're going to vote for Katherine Harris instead? You're going to trust her with the future of our nation? Scary...

Katherine Harris Bill Nelson 2006 Election