Saturday, April 01, 2006

Mass Exodus Likely At Harris Campaign

ORLANDO -- The last of U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris' key staffers appear ready to abandon her campaign for the U.S. Senate in a wave of resignations expected to start this weekend.

Sources close to the campaign said Friday that the defections would touch virtually every level of her operation.

Harris, who is running against Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, is likely to lose her chief political strategist, her campaign manager, her spokeswoman, her director of field operations and even a traveling aide who helps hand out stickers at campaign appearances.

It is the latest and most dramatic indication so far that her campaign is on the verge of collapse.

"I've never seen staffers go like this," said David Johnson, a Republican pollster and consultant. "It's just imploding."

Calls and e-mails to the campaign were not returned Friday night, but sources said Harris met with staffers earlier in the day to tell them she would be hiring new staff to replace those who had already left.

Existing campaign workers could stay, she said, but they would have to re-commit themselves to the Senate race. She gave them until 5 p.m. Sunday to decide.

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