Florida GOP Jettisons Mrs. Ed

News item from various TDM sources this morning: GOP Puts Mrs. Ed Out to Pasture

Apparently, a leading cadre of the "party elite" have told Mrs. Ed...errr...Rep. Katherine Harris of Florida -- the rhinoplasty disaster that walks -- that her incipient bid for the U.S. Senate has become a political trainwreck, trailing Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson by nearly 40 points in most polls.

You know, I think Aaron Sorkin in his movie The American President may have said it best: "You know, the time it takes a person in this town to go from national power player, to late night talk show joke punchline can be measured with an egg timer..."

I think, arguably the most pathetic thing has been her inability to take the hint, though. She has had mass defections of her senior staff, turning them over twice now, she still might be indicted for her associations with Jack Abramoff, at this point Gov. Jeb Bush is openly recruiting primary opponents to run against her, and she has utterly failed to raise the money necessary through normal channels and has been having to loan her campaign money.

And now, the party has finally just sent her a letter telling her enough is enough, and to stop embarrasing herself and her party in public:

"Katherine, though it causes us much anguish, we have determined that your campaign faces irreparable damage. We feel that we have no other choice but to revoke our support.

"The polls tell us that no matter how you run this race, you will not be successful in beating Bill Nelson, who would otherwise be a vulnerable incumbent if forced to face a stronger candidate," it said.

Shorter: "Stoopid cow, yer doomed, stop embarassing us!" And yet, she still doesn't seem to get the hint. In the previously linked Fishwrap on the Potomac article, Mrs. Ed says that the Florida State Party's High Komissar Carole Jean Jordan had never expressed any concerns about her campaign to her, in spite of issuing another statement today to the effect that Mrs. Ed is done.

So the hits just keep on coming, right after replacing her senior staff for the second time, after they all went over the wall, telling tales of a campaign that more resembled the screenplay for "Mommie Dearest" and the one seeming exception to the rule that no matter how much money you pump into a campaign that sometimes these things are simply not to be... My guess, is that since the letter was actually sent to her on May 7 (mojo's birthday by the way ... thanks Ms. Jordan!), they wanted to give her one last chance to step aside with whatever shreds of dignity, self-respect and personal fortune she could hang on to.

But she obviously did not heed them, so the letter went public, and now everyone knows that Mrs. Ed is cold-product and yesterday's news in politics. I doubt she'll even be allowed to run for dog catcher in Florida ever again.

Couldn't happen to a nicer talking horse...

mojo sends