THE KATHERINE HARRIS CAMPAIGN GETS DEFENSIVE

As questions continue to swirl regarding Congresswoman Katherine Harris (R - Longboat Key) and her ties to convicted defense contractor Mitchell Wade, the GOP candidate for Bill Nelson's U.S. Senate seat has gone into full crisis mode, cancelling five scheduled stops in Southwest Florida and is avoiding the media.

Sarasota Herald-Tribune political columnist Jeremy Wallace wrote that Harris abruptly cancelled a campaign stop in Charlotte County Saturday, with four other events scheduled for Lee and Collier counties being removed from her campaign's Web site.

It's another sign that Harris' struggling campaign is now in full crisis mode. Political consultants say that shying away from the public right now is also a bad strategy.

"She can't hide and expect this to go away," said David Johnson, a Republican political consultant. "It looks like her campaign is circling the wagons."

Wade, who founded the firm MZM, admitted February 24 that in March of 2004 he bribed one member of Congress (California Republican Randy "Duke" Cunningham, sentenced last Friday to 100 months in prison) and gave $32,000 in illegal campaign contributions to Mrs. Harris (he reimbursed MZM employees and their spouses for writing 16 checks of $2,000 each to her campaign, a huge no-no under federal campaign law).

Over a private dinner in Washington, D.C., Wade and Harris talked about "obtaining funding and approval" for a Navy counterintelligence program that Wade wanted to open in Sarasota, Justice Department records show.

After that dinner meeting, Harris put in a $10 million budget request to the Defense Appropriations subcommittee to fund the project. Days later, an employee in Harris' congressional office went to work for Wade at MZM.

The funding for the project never was approved.

Justice Department officials have refused to comment on Harris' role in the investigation, saying the probe is ongoing.

Wallace writes that nationally prominent Republicans continue to back her campaign. U.S. Senator and National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman Elizabeth Dole (R - NC), who had previously been cool to Harris' candidacy, invited her to the weekly GOP senate caucus meeting usually restricted to Republican senators.

Honestly, while some among the GOP leadership would rather see someone else facing off against Nelson in November, the reality is setting in that Harris is likely their party's nominee. At this point in time, the probability that another prominent Florida Republican such as House Speaker Allan Bense (R - Panama City) would step in and even come close to matching Nelson's sizable campaign fund is slim and none. And, considering that she stepped aside last year at the request of President Bush's political team so that Mel Martinez could run for the state's other U.S. Senate seat, any similar request this time around would likely earn a response as to where they could put such a thing.