18 ordspråk av Darryl Paulson
Darryl Paulson
Clearly she was talked out of the race the last time around (in 2004) and clearly she had conversations with Karl Rove and others in D.C. who didn't want her to run this time. I don't think she's the right person at the right time, and I don't think there is a right time for Katherine Harris.
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For much of the '70s, '80s and '90s, it was like the neglected stepchild told it was going to have to go to work to support the family,
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Her image is so chiseled in stone in such a negative way that even though she's pumping in $10 million of her own money, much of that is going to have to be used to create a positive image of her and $10 million isn't going to be enough.
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I do not view him as selling out or changing his basic philosophy. I think he is doing what he has to do. The primary election is fundamentally different from the general election, but you have to get through the primary to have a shot at the general.
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I think she is vulnerable to a primary challenge now, but that would fracture the Republican Party. The only realistic chance Republicans have is to persuade Harris to get out of the race.
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In prior years you couldn't drive more than a couple blocks without seeing scores of these signs for one candidate or the other. It was almost like military forces had their troops ready for battle.
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It created an opportunity for alternative candidates to emerge to exploit this dissatisfaction. None of them won, but certainly the elections were hotly contested.
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It does raise some questions as to who benefits from these projects. Is it the taxpayers of St. Pete in general or 'condominium row'?
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It has done some damage. She can't escape the bad news syndrome: She's always responding to bad news, can't get a positive message out there.
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It's always a problem for a candidate introducing himself for the first time. You want to create the most favorable first impression you can.
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It's been one piece of bad news after another, creating such a negative impression about her campaign that she now is vulnerable to another Republican challenger. Six months ago, it would have been almost impossible to envision that.
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It's the most dismal campaign that I've ever seen. It's been one set of missteps and blunders after another.
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She's lost every key person on her campaign. Some of them have been with her since the beginning of her career. It is hopeless at this point. She is becoming a caricature rather than a candidate.
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That may raise the obvious question of whether there's an insatiable appetite on the part of the county commission to raise as much money as they can at any point in time. Even if they can't spend it now, they can build up rainy-day funds, or they can bankroll for some major project down the line. I don't think there's going to be tremendous public support for that.
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The business of government ought to be government, not business. I do think there's been too much of a blurring of the line between the proper role of business and the proper role of government.
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