The White House has praise for Bense, possible Katherine Harris opponent

[riona]

Recent Florida talks suggests that Bense would be a more formidable opponent in the Senate race against incumbent, Bill Nelson.


http://politics.tampabay.com/2006/05/04/State/White_House_aide_has_.shtml

By BILL ADAIR and ADAM C. SMITH
Published May 4, 2006

WASHINGTON - The White House added a new wrinkle to Florida's U.S. Senate race Wednesday by pointedly praising state House Speaker Allan Bense.

In an interview with the St. Petersburg Times, Sara Taylor, President Bush's political director, said Bense "would be great in any office he ran for."

Taylor said she knows Bense from her dealings with Florida Republican leaders. "I think the world of the guy," she said. "I think he's a class act, he's a very strong leader. He's somebody who is a consensus builder."

Taylor's comments were a subtle but unmistakable signal that the White House is getting more involved in the race for the Republican nomination. Many state Republican leaders want an alternative to Rep. Katherine Harris, R-Longboat Key, who is tangled in the scandal involving a defense contractor and former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. The deadline to enter the race is May 12.

Jennifer Duffy, who tracks Senate races for the Cook Political Report, said Taylor's comments are "very much a signal that the White House political operation is encouraging Bense to get in the race. It's also a sign they have stepped back their support for Harris. They had been saying mildly supportive things."

Taylor did not criticize Harris, but she also did not offer much support for the former Florida secretary of state, who played a key role in Bush's 2000 victory.

More at link....


EDIT: COPYRIGHT. PLEASE POST ONLY 4 OR 5
PARAGRAPHS FROM THE COPYRIGHTED NEWS SOURCE
PER DU RULES.

[YDogg]

1. Wonder if Harris was one of the hookers?

[WePurrsevere]

6. Well she's certainly a "prostitute", just not one who sells sex for $$....

necessarily.

Quite frankly I have a lot more respect for the few professional sex prostitutes I met years ago then I do her... they were at least pretty up front and honest about what they are doing and why.

[gasperc]

2. countdown week!!! only 6 days to go to May12th deadline!!!

isn't there a scandal to drum Dense out of consideration, gay hookers at the watergate, come on get to work people

[Cooley Hurd]

3. Isn't the Bush White House fearful of a woman scorned...

...especially a woman with Harris's ego? If she REALLY wanted to fuck them over, she could easily rat them out over the voter roll purge alone!

[ReadTomPaine]

4. Yes, one wonders the limits of her loyalty.

Unless, of course, they have more on her then she has on them. A real possibility.

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. She has always only had her own self interest at heart

and she would be facing some serious jail time if she ever admitted to her real role in the 2000 election.

They know their lassie from Tallahassee will keep quiet.

Plus she sleeps around, so it would be easy to destroy her if she doesn't play nice.

[PATRICK]

5. Another woman on the front lines

So they choose Taylor to caaaaarefully undercut harris and Harris doesn't get the betrayal yet/ Maybe it is time for her to drop(also caaarefully) a juicy election scandal tidbit just to remind the backstabbers how much she knows.

They certainly aren't being more blunt and forthright about stopping Harris' bid and prosecuting more than a few of her own skeletons out of gratitude or any concern for anyone other than the WH circle.

If there is one person who could blow apart election fraud WIDE open from the inside it is Harris scorned. The debt this nation could owe this treasonous criminal would be so great I might even support her for the Senate when she gets out of jail before the year 3000 on a plea bargain. She knows all the ropes, all the machinery, most of the names and can take both Bushes down in one blow.

And this is how they repay you Katherine, for a seat no GOP stooge is much equipped to take anyway- unless you have to sit by and watch the vote fraud you mastered used to reward someone more....popular.

I'd send you an e-mail like this except the people monitoring your correspondence these days are not the kindly NSA tools.

[Divernan]

7. Bense is a "consensus builder"?!?!? They claimed that about W as well.

Any Florida DUers with thoughts/opinions on that issue?

[riona]

10. I haven't been in FL that long but

I've seen statements like this one from the St. Pete Times. " Bense could not be more unlike his predecessor as speaker, Republican Johnnie Byrd, who was criticized for shutting out Democrats and turning against Republicans who challenged him.

Even a fierce partisan such as state Democratic Party chairman Scott Maddox praises Bense."

[bullimiami]

8. thats honor among thieves for you.

bush would never had been president if katy hadnt twisted the florida election to manufacture a bush victory.

she gave it all to the bush boys and they spit on her, tossed her clothes at her and told her to get out.
is she angry?

[cliss]

11. Angry?

I'd say she's very angry. She's already commented on how poorly they've treated her. Especially 1 month ago, when her staff did the 'Mutiny on the Bounty' thing. That was SO staged. That was Jeb's Repub's doing their dirty work in her office.

I'm sure there was plenty of money to pay the staff. I'm confident that people were OK with working for her. It just smacked of a coup to me (all those people leaving at once) and she had to change the lock on the doors too.

This is a tough situation for the Repubs. They've tried to get rid of her, but she won't go.

They can only do 1 thing, and that's to be delicate.