the primaries are over, thank God

We just finished our primary elections in Florida, thereby (almost) putting an end to a heavy barrage of the sleaziest, slimiest election campaign ads that we've seen in a long time - that is, since the last election. In Florida, the way you run for office is to pin the liberal tail on the donkey who is your opponent. That's donkey as in jackass, not donkey as in Democrat. Even the Republicans, whose mothers undoubtedly taught them never to say unkind things about other Republicans, were trashing each other. I'm happy to say that most of the worst offenders lost their bids for office, but not all of them.

I wish I could report that Katherine Harris' political career came to an end, but she embarrassed the party leaders by pulling in almost half the vote in a four-man. . .er, four-body. . .race. This is the Katherine Harris of Election 2000 fame, the Katherine Harris who calls separation of church and state a "lie," and the Katherine Harris who immediately went on the offensive by calling Senator Bill Nelson a liberal four times in a speech that lasted less than four minutes. We have to cope with this for two more months. I'd rather cope with hurricane season, which is also in full gear.