On the grim subject of Katherine Harris..

For years, people have often replied to my entreaties to elect women with, "Even Katherine Harris?" -- and for years my response has been, "No!" Today I still cannot forgive what happened in my state of Florida in 2004 -- and almost daily I wish that Congresswoman Harris would just give us a break and go away (and take Barry Bonds with her).

But one cannot help noticing how her Republican Party is treating her -- a heroine to many in the stealing of the Florida election, and one of the Top Five (5) fund-raisers for her party nationwide in 2004...now they just can't stop kicking the stuffing out of her any time they can, as if she is the only one with a flawed campaign or links to corruption, lobbyists and whatever. Can anyone name a male candidate with her bonafieds that is being treated like this anywhere???

Now Jeb Bush and others are trying to talk retiring Speaker of the Florida House Allan Bense into challenging Harris (who qualified on Monday). Bense is known to almost no one out of his Panhandle district or Talahassee politics, and rightfully refers to himself as "nobody." No amount of Bush support or money is going to propel Allan Bense or Katherine Harris into the U.S Senate over Bill Nelson in 2006.

The only one who had a chance to bring home the bacon for the Gopers, in my humble opinion, was Lt. Governor Toni Jennings -- who had Jeb Bush's backing to run for Governor, but did not...

FYI -- Today's Miami Herald profiles Bense and his "small government" politics. It also delves into his small mind as far as women are concerned: "Concerned that his daughter, then a legislative lobbyist, would be accused of having improper influence, Bense asked Courtney to give up her career when he became speaker. 'It was hard to hear,' said Courtney Bense, who now runs a women's boutique in Tallahassee and says it was the right decision to quit lobbying. 'I just loved my job.'" I'm no fan of lobbyists, but is he going to get her job back for her now?