Senator Joe Scarborough?

[Moooooo]

"Republican Party leaders are courting Joe Scarborough to replace U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris in the 2006 Senate race against Bill Nelson," the Pensacola News Journal scooped this morning.

According to Pensacola businessman Collier Merrill, Scarborough has "met with senior party officials who are encouraging him to challenge" U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris.

"His name recognition continues to skyrocket," Merrill said of Scarborough. "I know he's being courted very heavily. I know everywhere he goes, people are encouraging him to run."

Scarborough has been elected to Congress four times beginning in 1994. He has hosted Scarborough Country on MSNBC since 2003, and his contract is up in March. MSNBCers are buzzing about the speculation, which has reached the AP wire. But Scarborough Country tends to be the top-rated show on the network; I predict he'll stay at MSNBC...

Link

[Moooooo]

He'd probably be a strong candidate had one of his interns not turned up dead in his office.

Edit:  Now that I think about it... He'd probably be a strong candidate regardless. He's smart, charismaitc, great name ID, and he has legislative experience.

[WalterMitty]

republican leaders should be bending over backwards for harris.  she made sure bush received the presidency.

i support harris.  no if ands or buts.  im not a fairweather supporter like so many republicans tend to be.

[Speed of Sound]

SENATOR Joe Scarborough?!? I hope he strays at MSNBC. but seriously, he would stand a decent chance to say the least. Scarborough is a smart man and a good debater. But having your own show on MSNBC with super high ratings is also very good. Plus no-one there cares if you are a really partisan person as long as youre getting high ratings. Plus he wouldnt have to put up with approval ratings and scandals and budgets....its a tough decision for me if i was Joe Scarborough.

[TheresNoMoney]

Joe Scarborough is another Gary Condit. A dead intern was found in his office and no charges were ever filed and no cause of death was ever determined. Along with a messy divorce, he resigned from Congress a short time later.

Combine that with all the soundbytes from his TV show and he'd be in trouble. He also sponsored a bunch of wingnutty legislation while in Congress.

[Jake]

But Scarborough Country tends to be the top-rated show on the network.

So, Scarborough Country gets destroyed in a better fashion by FNC and CNN

[dazzleman]

He'd probably be a strong candidate had one of his interns not turned up dead in his office.

I never heard of that before.  And I didn't know he had a messy divorce.  I never knew anything about his personal life.

So much for conservative family values.    That type of thing would be a big handicap among Republican voters in Florida.  In general, Democratic voters have lower moral standards, and are therefore more forgiving of this type of thing.  A Democrat can therefore get away with this type of thing much more easily than a Republican.

I bet he won't run.

[Alcon]

He'd probably be a strong candidate had one of his interns not turned up dead in his office.

I never heard of that before.  And I didn't know he had a messy divorce.  I never knew anything about his personal life.

So much for conservative family values.    That type of thing would be a big handicap among Republican voters in Florida.  In general, Democratic voters have lower moral standards, and are therefore more forgiving of this type of thing.  A Democrat can therefore get away with this type of thing much more easily than a Republican.

I bet he won't run.

I wouldn't say "much more" easily.  If Republicans play "Good Christian," they can pretty much do as they like in many cases, and still get re-elected by their party.

The Republicans may have better moral standards, but when push comes to shove, all they have to do is be forgiven on Sunday and suddenly God's wrath is instantly deferred and the electorate smiles all Monday through.

EDIT: This was an excessive generalization - this may be true for many, even most, GOP voters, but there are plenty of education, honest Republicans who would not do that, and plenty of Christians who would not forgive just because someone went to church.

[Keystone Phil]

This is too weird. I was thinking about this idea just the other day. If he ran, I'd likely support him over Harris.

[Virginian87]

Joe Scarborough is another Gary Condit. A dead intern was found in his office and no charges were ever filed and no cause of death was ever determined. Along with a messy divorce, he resigned from Congress a short time later.

Combine that with all the soundbytes from his TV show and he'd be in trouble. He also sponsored a bunch of wingnutty legislation while in Congress.

I'm not sure if I would compare Scarborough to Gary Condit.  When did this happen?

[TheresNoMoney]

I'm not sure if I would compare Scarborough to Gary Condit.  When did this happen?

The circumstances of the death have never been explained. It happened the summer of 2001. Here is some information:

http://www.makethemaccountable.com/floyd/010817_HushHush.htm

http://www.americanpolitics.com/20010808Klausutis.html

http://www.oldamericancentury.org/lori_klausutis.htm

[12th Doctor]

Heh, I was just about to post this up.  This could make things pretty interesting.  I think he can beat Harris and has a better shot than her in the general election.

[AuH2O]

Actually odd deaths like this are not especially uncommon. There are potentially benign reasons for the lack of information. For instance, a number of young women die of heart failure stemming from eating disorders (even if they are good athletes-- a female basketball player at my university died this summer for no apparent reason but I think she had battled an eating disorder).

Combined with the fact Congressmen are rarely at their home district offices, it is certainly not a good thing, but nonetheless the story has no legs.

Cheating on his wife is more serious, though I don't know that to be true and there are a lot of reasons it could be out there without factual support.

I don't mind Harris but I have no problem with Scarborough entering the race... he might not be able to stop her anyway.

[J. J.]

Joe Scarborough is another Gary Condit. A dead intern was found in his office and no charges were ever filed and no cause of death was ever determined. Along with a messy divorce, he resigned from Congress a short time later.

Combine that with all the soundbytes from his TV show and he'd be in trouble. He also sponsored a bunch of wingnutty legislation while in Congress.

A couple of problems with your statement.

1.  The divorce was uncontested; that's hardly "messy."

2.  The aide, Lori Klausutis, was found dead, with no evidence of foul play or suicide, in the Florida office while Scarbourgh was in Washington, and this was after he had resigned from the House (August 2001).

With problems like that, he could elected Cardinal (and Pope if he doesn't remarry).

[Keystone Phil]

2.  The aide, Lori Klausutis, was found dead, with no evidence of foul play or suicide, in the Florida office while Scarbourgh was in Washington, and this was after he had resigned from the House (August 2003).

Why did he resign?

[RBH]

I think the ettiquette for divorces in Southern politics is saying "Washington changed [guy here]"

(source: Pryor v. Hutchinson)

The ads didn't say "Tim Hutchinson divorced his wife" but it could make a voter think "Hey, he did divorce his wife"

Scarborough would probably be stronger without 3 straight years of work on MSNBC. Nobody really watches MSNBC, and if he really won, somebody could just call him a "Washington Insider", which would persuade the voter who thinks MSNBC means something.

(on second thought: that makes no real sense, but then again, I don't think Republican Matthew Perry will run as an outsider)

[J. J.]

2.  The aide, Lori Klausutis, was found dead, with no evidence of foul play or suicide, in the Florida office while Scarbourgh was in Washington, and this was after he had resigned from the House (August 2003).

Why did he resign?

Reading between the lines, he wanted to make more money.  He had been interested in leaving for a while.

[12th Doctor]

Actually odd deaths like this are not especially uncommon. There are potentially benign reasons for the lack of information. For instance, a number of young women die of heart failure stemming from eating disorders (even if they are good athletes-- a female basketball player at my university died this summer for no apparent reason but I think she had battled an eating disorder).

Combined with the fact Congressmen are rarely at their home district offices, it is certainly not a good thing, but nonetheless the story has no legs.

Cheating on his wife is more serious, though I don't know that to be true and there are a lot of reasons it could be out there without factual support.

I don't mind Harris but I have no problem with Scarborough entering the race... he might not be able to stop her anyway.

A kid at my university was hit by a train while he was crossing raised tracks with his IPod on, so, yeah, thest things do happen.

[TeePee4Prez]

This is too weird. I was thinking about this idea just the other day. If he ran, I'd likely support him over Harris.

Yeah, I once said your tactics were like Joe Scarborough.  Perfect candidate for you!

[Keystone Phil]

This is too weird. I was thinking about this idea just the other day. If he ran, I'd likely support him over Harris.

Yeah, I once said your tactics were like Joe Scarborough.  Perfect candidate for you!

I know you did and I doubt you have any idea what that even means.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

The FL GOP is DESPRETE, (not even Foley cvould beat Harris in the primary, Bense only got 19% in a GOP FL senate primary poll, 23% against Nelson).

 given this lackluster preformence (they won't  beat Harris, who said recently in a stump speech "Gore and  Bill Nelson are head of a left wing conspirecy that says nothing but bullsh**t, when it talks about helping the American people").  Given this lackluster preformence  Davis could break 45%, maybe win with Harris on the ballot.

[Virginian87]

Scarborough would probably be stronger without 3 straight years of work on MSNBC. Nobody really watches MSNBC, and if he really won, somebody could just call him a "Washington Insider", which would persuade the voter who thinks MSNBC means something.

I watch MSNBC.  I think it's a better and more well-balanced cable news channel than Fox and CNN.  Scarborough would be a strong candidate, but Harris already has time on her side.  I think that having Joe win the nomination would make things more difficult for Nelson though.

[ian]

Florida is in the South, so family values matter a lot to his voters.  Once the Democrats bring up the subject of Scarborough cheating on his wife, he is a gonner.  He obviously can't win.  I think that Nelson will be keeping his seat, however, whether it's Scarborough or Harris that he runs against.

[ian]

I watch MSNBC.  I think it's a better and more well-balanced cable news channel than Fox and CNN.

I do, too, and wholeheartedly agree.  But I do hate Joe Scarborough.  Did you watch when Michael Savage was on??  What a evil, evil man!!

[TheresNoMoney]

What an evil, evil man!!

You talking about Scarborough or Savage?