Afraid to Answer Questions

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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/michael_putney/14155490.htm
KATHERINE HARRIS
Shying away from reporters
BY MICHAEL PUTNEY
mputney@local10.com

I talked to Katherine Harris the other day, and it wasn't easy. Not the talking part, the finding-the-candidate-and-getting-permission- to-talk-to-her part.

The two-term Sarasota congresswoman and star of Florida's 2000 election was perfectly willing to go on Fox News last week to field some soft balls from Sean Hannity about her new and improved Senate campaign. But she canceled a news conference two days later with Florida reporters and was not available to sit down with me for 12 minutes of free TV air time on Sunday even though she was in town.

I eventually caught up with Harris last Saturday at one of her ''grass fire'' campaign events in Fort Lauderdale. Speaking to about 30 people at a restaurant, she spent a lot of time talking about her commitment to keeping Florida ''strong in job creation,'' building adequate infrastructure and making sure we have enough evacuation routes during hurricanes. She also scolded the media for ignoring her sponsorship of ''Carlie's Law,'' named for Carlie Brucia, which calls for harsher probation for anyone convicted of a committing a crime against a child. All well and good, but if she thinks she'll be elected to the U.S. Senate on any of these issues, she's delusional.

When Harris finally did get around to some key issues, she seemed to impress the upper-middle-class white folks who'd come out to hear her. She confidently declared that ''homeland security is safer than ever before,'' despite recent reports that our airports and seaports remain vulnerable to terrorist attacks. On Iraq, Harris said: ''We are being successful there, and it's protecting us back home.'' She didn't say how. She also recounted how a recent visit to Iraq proved to her that the situation there is ''much better than the media report'' (big applause). She added that American troops ``told me they don't want to be sent home before they finish the job.''

While some U.S. military personnel may have told her that, the first credible survey of American troops in Iraq recently showed most think the war is unwinnable and that the United States should get out.

It looks like Harris is floating merrily along on the far-right side of the political mainstream and can't even see the other shore. It's not just that she sees the world through rose-colored Prada glasses, she sees it through a different prism. Hers is a Weltenschauung based on privilege and plutocracy. As the granddaughter of one of Florida's great citrus and cattle barons, Ben Hill Griffin, you can understand why. But Harris gives no sign of understanding or even empathizing with the plight of Floridians who struggle to find a decent job, make their mortgage payments, buy groceries or see a doctor when they get sick.

When I asked her to name the single overriding theme of her Senate campaign, she answered, ''Our voting records.'' Presumably, that means hers in the four years she has served in the House versus six years in the Senate for Bill Nelson, whom she calls ''a liberal with an anti-family voting record.'' Nelson is many things, but liberal is not one of them, and it's hard to conceive how his moderate voting record makes him ``anti-family.''

No unscripted interviews

Can Nelson be beaten? His approval rating is hovering around 50 percent, which would make him vulnerable to a strong GOP candidate. Jeb Bush, Gen. Tommy Franks or U.S. Rep. Mark Foley all would stand a good chance of taking him out, but none has expressed an interest in running. And with Harris' pledge to spend her $10 million inheritance on the race, I doubt that any of them will. It looks like Harris will have the GOP field to herself.

If Harris can rebuild her staff, which has suffered from high turnover, and bring some discipline to her campaign, Harris could make it interesting. She could also get a good deal of ''free'' media should she ever decide to deal straightforwardly with reporters. I doubt that will happen. After her speech last Sunday to the conservative Reclaiming America conference, she refused to speak to the media.

Perhaps one reason is that Harris knows her unscripted TV appearances are not confidence-builders or vote-getters. As I watched her on Hannity & Colmes last week, a name from the past sprang to mind: Paula Hawkins. The former Florida senator was another nice lady but something of a ditz. She and Harris share the same unsettling affect: slightly off-kilter, too smiley, emotionally disproportionate and occasionally just plain weird.

That's why Harris prefers to appear only in tightly controlled settings (and $10 million will buy many) and avoid giving reporters the chance to pepper her with their pesky questions. Such as, why did you take $50,000 in illegal campaign contributions from defense contractor Mitchell Wade, who has pleaded guilty to bribing another congressman? Why did one of your staffers resign and show up a few days later working for Wade, for whom you introduced a bill that would have given his company a $10 million defense contract?

The questions for Harris are legion. First we've got find her and make her answer them.