Katherine Harris Wants to Be Your Junior Senator From Florida

The Devil Wears Prada of Florida politics -- NRO folks deliver what's essentially the post-mortem, though the fact that this has dragged out so long is enjoyable extended payback.

Aides also painted a picture of Harris as someone who was obsessive about her appearance.

Harris, 49, frequently wore tight-fitting outfits, low-cut tops or short skirts that several aides said they considered inappropriate for a middle-aged Senate candidate.

At least one aide went shopping with Harris to help her find more suitable clothing, but there was little change in her apparel.

Even when the press noted her sexy outfits, such as when she wore a form-fitting hot pink shirt while riding a horse at the Arcadia rodeo, Harris found it amusing, the aides said.

"She would rather have that publicity than be ignored," Miller said.

Harris scoffed at the suggestion she was obsessed with her appearance.

"Now that's funny considering that I get ready in 15 minutes and am at the office. I'm hardly obsessed with (my) appearance."

Harris, whose heavy makeup was often the butt of jokes during the 2000 election recount, "would talk about makeup... in a weird, creepy, obsessive way," said a former aide.

And she would frequently tell her female staff, "I'd much rather be pretty than wealthy," the aide said.

Harris, who never had children — she has an adult stepdaughter — also would tell her female aides she regretted not having children.

"Freeze your eggs," because you'll eventually want to have children, she told one of her aides.

It is reassuring to know that not even Florida is this crazy, though.

Harris turns stony when she's asked what will happen if she doesn't win.

"Haven't even considered it," she says in a tone that suggests a follow-up question would be foolhardy.

Later in the evening, while talking about her love for Queen Esther, she runs to the passenger seat of her SUV and seizes a Bible.

"I'll give you one verse," she says. "On the day that the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, the opposite occurred, in that the Jews themselves overpowered those who hated them."

What does that have to do with this race?

"November 7th," she replies.

Despite the polls, the political stumbles and the personal tribulations, Katherine Harris still believed until the very end that she would overcome the odds and unseat U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.

Harris believed it so much that she did not start writing her first-ever concession speech until after The Associated Press had called the race for Nelson after 8 p.m., she said late Tuesday.

"I absolutely had not thought one word about the speech to give tonight until I went up to my bedroom," she said of the speech she wrote with her spokeswoman, Jennifer Marks. "So, sorry it took me a little bit longer to get down."

...

Harris said she couldn't say what was next for her, other than catching up with her friends and family, but she has said she plans to write a tell-all book about her campaign. When asked for details, she has said, "You'll have to wait and see."

She also couldn't say whether she again would run for public office.

"I haven't even thought about it," Harris said. "I thought I was going to be in the U.S. Senate tonight."

But she said she had no regrets.

"I really believe this was exactly where I was supposed to be and what I was supposed to do."

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/11/28/131316/32/866/667297