http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/14980162.htm

Posted on Thu, Jul. 06, 2006

Katherine Harris visits with Hispanic voters in Miami

ADRIAN SAINZ
Associated Press

MIAMI - U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris shared hugs and hellos in Spanish with potential voters at a Little Havana restaurant Thursday as part of a meet-and-greet campaign to reach Hispanics in the race for U.S. Senate.

Harris told about 75 supporters to ignore past campaign troubles and promised to work to shore up the nation's troubled immigration policy, cut taxes and preserve "traditional marriages" if chosen to join fellow Republican Mel Martinez - the first Cuban-American U.S. Sen..

Harris said "Hola" and "Gracias," which are hello and thank you in Spanish, as she walked into the landmark Versailles restaurant, then began her short speech with a sentence in Spanish thanking those in attendance for their support.

"When they said the president couldn't win, the governor couldn't win, or when I couldn't win as secretary of state, you helped me do it," she said in English.

Harris lags far behind in a general election matchup with incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Melbourne, according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll. Nelson led Harris 59 to 26 in the poll.

Her campaign has dealt with poor fundraising, an effort by GOP leaders to find another candidate, a complete turnover in core campaign staff, her association with a corrupt defense contractor who gave her $32,000 in illegal campaign contributions and her decision to spend $10 million of her own money on the race.

But optimism and forward progress was the message Thursday - the launch of Harris' campaign in Miami-Dade County, home to more than one-third of Florida's roughly 1.5 million Hispanic voters and almost three-fourths of Florida's Cuban voter population, according to Pew Hispanic Center statistics from 2003. Since the 1960s, Cuban-Americans have been a traditionally republican voting bloc.

Harris also made appearances on Spanish-language talk radio, an influential and indispensable tool for any politician seeking the Hispanic vote in South Florida. Harris also invoked the name of Martinez, who is wildly popular among many Cubans in Miami.

"Every time Mel Martinez votes to preserve traditional marriage or to cut your taxes or make certain that we have a good immigration policy, Bill Nelson votes against it," she said during the speech.

Nelson's campaign manager, Chad Clanton, said Harris has lost all credibility.

Afterward, Harris clarified with reporters her stance on the nation's immigration policy. Harris said she voted for a House bill that would toughen border security but did not support the aspect of the measure that makes all illegal immigrants subject to felony charges.

"I did not support felonizing and that will not be in the final bill whatsoever," she said, adding that she wants a temporary worker program.

Some in attendance said they admired Harris, the former secretary of state, for her role in certifying the results of the contentious 2000 presidential recount, which gave George W. Bush the state's electoral votes.

State Rep. Gus Barreiro, R-Miami, one of a handful of state legislators who attended the event, said voters remember her role in the recount.

"You find true leadership in tough times, not in easy times," Barreiro said. "Here's a public official, in one of our nation's darkest moments, who really showed her character under a lot of adversity and a lot of criticism. She still did her job."