Paws for thought in Katherine Harris campaign

MIAMI, Florida (Reuters)
— Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, a key player in the 2000 presidential election recount battle, faces a dogged opponent in her campaign for Congress — a border collie-German shepherd mix, to be precise.

    Charter boat captain Wayne Genthner of Sarasota, Florida, said on Monday he planned
to enter the name of his dog Percy as a write-in candidate for the Republican primary ahead of the November election.

    “We hope by running a canine against a nationally known political person we can
draw attention to voter disenfranchisement and disconnect,” he said.

    Harris has set her sights on a seat in the House and is viewed as the favorite
to win in her district in the Sarasota area.

    Genthner
said he wanted to satirize what he viewed as absurdities and injustices
such as campaign finance, which he said put running for office out of reach
of ordinary people.

    Since
election rules would prevent a dog from running, Genthner said that later
this month he would send in the papers entering himself as a write-in candidate
— a person whose name does not appear on the ballot but can be inscribed
by voters. But Percy would be the name voters would write and Genthner
said he intended to act merely as “campaign manager.”

    While
his action is intended as parody, he hoped it would send a serious message.
“We want people to participate in democracy before it dies on the vine,”
said Genthner.

    The campaign
has so far cost some $600, mostly in copying fliers, said Genthner, adding
that he had taken Percy out to meet voters at events such as stock car
races.

    Percy’s
manifesto promises a tough line on crime since the dog “will personally
chase down any criminal he sees.” It notes that he “has himself never been
implicated in any sex scandal, thanks, he says, to his timely neutering.”

    Harris’s
campaign had raised some $1.7 million by the end of March and she is viewed
as likely to steam-roller her challengers in a safe Republican district.
Her campaign has taken the canine threat in good humor.

    “The
cute looking candidate, Percy the dog, has a lot of paws to shake to catch
up with our grass roots effort and huge volunteer base,” said her campaign
assistant press secretary Jessica Furst.

    Harris
became a household name, praised by Republicans and vilified by Democrats,
in November 2000 as supervisor of the hotly contested elections in Florida
that turned out to hold the keys to the White House. Bush won the White
House after a five-week legal battle over vote recounting.