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Bush, Harris chemistry like soda and vinegar

By ADAM C. SMITH
Published May 10, 2006

She became an international celebrity as the secretary of state who helped ensure George W. Bush won the White House in 2000. So the Bushes are pals with Rep. Katherine Harris, right?

Hardly.

In case you hadn’t noticed Gov. Jeb Bush spending much of the last 12 months undercutting Harris’ campaign for U.S. Senate, here’s a news flash: The Bushes have never had much affection for Harris.

“It’s a function of different styles, lack of chemistry,” said J.M. “Mac” Stipanovich, a Republican strategist who worked closely with Harris during the 2000 recount. “The governor and Katherine have never had a close working relationship.”

The governor loves to wade into the weeds of intricate policy questions; Harris is no policy wonk. In 1998 Bush backed his former gubernatorial running mate, Sandy Mortham, in her race for secretary of state against Harris, who beat her badly. On the Cabinet together in 1999, people noticed that Bush kept Harris seated farther away from him than some Democrats in the Cabinet.

“They (Bush and Harris) have never been friends, and she pointed it out to me during the 2000 election,” said Ken Plante, a lobbyist and former top aide to Gov. Bush. “They weren’t warm and fuzzy.”

Some Republican observers note a level of antagonism that goes well beyond her terrible poll numbers this year, old election wounds or stylistic differences.

Former state Republican chairman Tom Slade sees a deep-seated animosity between the Bushes and Harris.

“There’s been an apparent level of animosity from the Bushes toward Katherine Harris from the events of 2000,” Slade said. “I would have thought she had developed a lifetime IOU to the Bush family. It has turned out to be exactly the opposite.”

The opposition to the Harris candidacy has been long-standing and based on evolving motivations. It’s not necessarily personal.

In 2003, when the White House persuaded her not to run for Senate, strategists worried she was too much of a lightning rod and could motivate Democrats at the expense of the president’s re-election.

Then in 2005, Republicans saw a real shot at unseating Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, and they fretted that Harris, while popular among Republicans, lacked the widespread appeal to win statewide. Polls consistently showed her weak among independents and women and lagging well behind Nelson.

Since then, the president’s approval ratings have plunged and Republicans nationally are concentrating less on picking off Democratic seats than trying to save their own.

Harris has struggled, mightily. Once known as a great fundraiser, she has had to dip into her personal wealth to maintain a respectable balance in her campaign account, and a steady stream of former campaign staffers has built into a mass of grumbling political observers who criticize her every step.

Then there are the illegal campaign contributions from her 2004 House campaign that came from a defense contractor whom she was trying to help land a Pentagon project. Harris has not been charged with wrongdoing, but the whiff of scandal seems firmly attached to her campaign.

In Florida, most GOP strategists no longer worry whether she will lose. Instead, they’re worried she’ll lose so badly she’ll drag down the entire Republican ticket from state House races to the governor’s race.

“Those who knew her up close thought she was a little flaky,” Harris’ former chief campaign adviser Ed Rollins said of the initial reluctance to get behind her campaign. “Now the worry is not only does she not win, but she hurts everyone else.”

For all of Harris’ mistakes, weaknesses and controversies, many longtime Republican activists grumble that Jeb Bush and other Republicans also played a key role in creating the mess they now find themselves in.

Longtime Harris allies say she might have been persuaded to drop out long ago had party leaders in Washington and Tallahassee used some diplomacy. By so aggressively and publicly belittling her, they ensured she dug in.

Others contend that even with Harris’ mistakes, she would have been in a much stronger position if the party had united behind her. Instead, they have weakened their likely nominee at a time when the party is weaker than it has been in years.

“If Republicans on a national basis were riding sky high, this might not make that much difference. But we are not. We are in a ditch right now, with people throwing rocks at us. Adding another negative — regardless of how it happened — kind of compounds the problem,” said Slade, lamenting the lack of party discipline that has been evident in recent months.

Times staff writers Steve Bousquet and Anita Kumar contributed to this report. Adam C. Smith can be reached at (727)893-8241 or asmith@sptimes.com.

[Last modified May 10, 2006, 22:40:17]