COULD NOW BE BENSE'S OPENING TO ENTER THE U.S. SENATE RACE?

Some interesting political news over the past 24-48 hours. Seems as though Katherine Harris' campaign manager, Jim Dorman, has resigned. The National Journal's daily political brief, The Hotline, notes that Dorman will remain with the campaign as a senior adviser.

Apparantly Dorman felt that Congresswoman Harris (R - Longboat Key) should be spending more time and effort on her U.S. Senate campaign, while she believes that she should apparantly stay in Washington to fufill her duties in the House.

Deputy campaign manager and former state Republican Party executive director Jamie Miller will take over Dorman's role, at least for now.

With a new Quinnipiac University poll showing Ms. Harris significantly behind (read: 24 points) Democratic incumbant Senator Bill Nelson, there is apparantly a new/revived effort to court Florida House Speaker Allan Bense (R - Panama City) into the race.

That 24 point advantage is the same that Quinnipiac found in it's previous survey August 31. But what may spark Bense is another response on the poll: It shows Floridians have mixed emotions about their now-senior senator, with 37 percent saying he should be reelected, 33 percent saying he should not, and 29 percent undecided.

Apparantly, not many Floridians have heard there is a gubernatorial race next year...or at least they haven't decided. Remember, it's ten months before the party primary.

Looking at the 2006 Governor's race, 56 percent of Florida Democrats are undecided on who should get their party's nomination, with 25 percent backing U.S. Rep. Jim Davis and 15 percent backing State Sen. Rod Smith.
Among Republicans, 38 percent pick Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, while 36 percent pick State Attorney General Charlie Crist, a tie, with 24 percent undecided.

In possible general election matchups:
Davis gets 40 percent to 39 percent for Crist, a statistical tie;
Davis gets 41 percent to 38 percent for Gallagher;
Crist beats Smith 41 – 36 percent;
Gallagher beats Smith 41 – 36 percent.

Just remember, though, in the words sung by the great Neil Diamond:

The road is long, with many a winding turn / That leads us to who knows where, who knows where...