JEB ADMITS HE'S CONCERNED ABOUT HARRIS' CANDIDACY

Governor Jeb Bush finally admitted Thursday that he is concerned about the status of Congresswoman Katherine Harris' (R - Longboat Key) campaign to replace Democratic incumbant Bill Nelson in the U.S. Senate.

Answering a reporter's question, Bush responded:

"I am the party leader. I've got concerns. The campaign can't be about her. It has to be about Bill Nelson and the future of our state and so far, she asked my advice and I gave her that exact advice and it's gotten worse since."

The governor was then asked if he believed that the issues surrounding Harris' campaign are making it difficult for other GOP candidates to possibly win in November. He simply replied, "You're right." When asked if he would like to see another candidate running under the Republican banner for the Senate, Jeb said, "I'm not saying anything."

Congresswoman Harris responded with a statement shortly after the governor spoke. It says, in part:

We look forward to the support of our national party leaders, are appreciative of the wise counsel of the governor, and most importantly are committed to our grassroots whose continued support will usher in our victory in November...

We have implemented the governor’s advice by making these changes. We welcome his continued support to help us defeat the incumbent and to unite the party for a top-down sweep in November.

And while we're talking about Ms. Harris:

Jeremy Wallace of the Sarasota Herald Tribune has a couple of interesting pieces in his Political Insider blog. While I provided some background on the members of Harris' new campaign team earlier this week, Jeremy goes a lot further. I wasn't aware that two of new hires had worked for her relative and congressional collegue Adam Putnam (R - Bartow). He also writes a bit on how conservative/Republican bloggers are pleading for Ms. Harris to quit, even going so far as to bring her loyalty into question.

And speaking of bloggers, Mark Lane of FlaBlog mentions a piece by the Miami Herald's Fred Grimm that ran Thursday and discusses Harris' enthusiasm for theologian Francis Schaeffer, which she mentioned during the recent "Reclaiming America for Christ" conference at Fort Lauderdale's Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church:

Schaeffer was plenty familiar to a gathering dedicated to retrofitting America into a ''Christian'' nation. He was among the founding theologians behind the Christian reconstruction movement, the dominionists, who preach that it is their paramount Christian duty to bring biblical law and ''Christian dominion'' to North America and the world beyond...

Of course, the reconstructionists embrace a wide spectrum of beliefs, but at the extreme end, they would tamper with the long decided legal precedents and extend the death penalty to adultery, homosexuality, blasphemy, heresy and other capital offenses enumerated in the Old Testament.

Do you really want this woman as your United States Senator???