The Florida election debacle of 2000 lives on. In the race to replace Rep. Katherine Harris in Florida's 13th district there is -- of all things -- an electoral snafu.

The 2006 election between Republican Vern Buchanan and Democrat Christine Jennings will be long noted as a particularly dirty fight. One in which a record amount of money was spent distorting each other's positions.

The real story is the vote in the 13th district. Or, more to the point, the undervote. In Sarasota County, the coverage on the razor thin margin of Buchanan's lead (373 votes) over Jennings has been front page news since the election. More than 18,000 voters in Manatee County are presumed to have skipped the congressional race on their touch screen ballots. The Bradenton Herald and Sarasota Herald-Tribune have detailed the raging controversy and the likely litigation that will follow any recount.

The battle looming though is over the way America votes. The touch screen voting system which fails to provide a paper trail is at the center of the controversy. Sarasota supervisor of election Kathy Dent wrote a letter to the Sarasota County Commission stating in part, "...I am going to urge the county commission to find necessary funds to purchase voting equipment which will satisfy the expression of the voters and current federal and state law."

Whether the election in the 13th district to replace Harris is decided by a recount, a special election or by Congress itself, the irony remains. The taint of voting irregularities, if not outright fraud, will be once again carefully monitored nationwide. As for Katherine Harris, she leaves the national political scene haunting the integrity of the electoral process itself.

Democratic House candidate Christine Jennings and Republican Vern Buchanan have offered precious little insight concerning their positions on the war in Iraq. In their campaign to succeed Rep. Katherine Harris in Florida's 13th district they have both stealthfully avoided the issue. For at least an hour last night that changed.

Appearing before a panel comprised of members of the Bradenton Chapter of Military Officers Association of America both candidates were asked to state their positions on Iraq and other issues. The Bradenton Herald reported Buchanan was aggressively challenged by Jennings when he tried to stereotype her as a proponent of a "cut and run" philosophy in the war in Iraq. She told the Veteran's Group she favored developing a "new strategy" which needs to "come from the military experts and not the politicians."

Buchanan has moved away from his previous "stay the course" position, instead adopting the newest Bush "flexible strategy" policy. A Sarasota newspaper, the Herald Tribune, noted in its coverage of the same debate that the audience, comprised mainly of veterans, was openly skeptical of Buchanan's claim that President Bush had a "strategy for winning the war."

The most remarkable thing about the campaign in the 13th congressional district though is the absence of any conscientious attempt by either candidate to take a stand - pro or con - on the disaster in Iraq. The most crucial and provocative issue of the election is a distant second behind the record amount of money being spent to buy a seat in congress.

Lord knows the Rovian Republicans do believe in miracles. Rightfully so, perhaps. Or more to the point, I should say... righteously so. With festive glee the Christian conservative "base," the "values voters," stir following last week's New Jersey Supreme Court decision pertaining to gay marriage.

The "activist" judges have provided a rallying cry. Like abused spouses, many of these Bush "believers" are putting aside the past abuse of their cause by the deceitful Bush-Rove administration and are ready to respond - once again - to a Rove rallying cry: "A Ban to Gay Marriage - Not Losing the War Against Terrorism - Is What's Vital to God and Country!"

In an article appearing in the Washington Post, a confident and jocular Karl Rove dismissed the surging support for Democratic candidates nationwide. "Incumbents," he was quoted as saying. "are hard to defeat. Our candidates by and large have significantly more resources than they have. And we succeed in making these races choices between two local candidates."

Today the Commander in Chief visits Sarasota for the first time since the fateful day in 2001 - September 11th. He won't be reading to children though. Today he'll be in town to campaign for the $6-million-man. Vern "Money Bags" Buchanan.

President Bush is the end of a veritable conga line of Republican big shots. Last week Snarlin' Big Dick Cheney was in Sarasota for twenty minutes to tell the assembled $2,000-a-plate faithful what a grand fellow Buchanan is. Last Thursday it was the president's brother, FL Governor Jeb Bush to bestow the Bush family's top honor on Vern. "He's a good man," said Jeb of Money Bags. Coming along to keep Jeb company was Sen. Mel Martinez and Massachusetts governor and presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney.

The contest in Florida's 13th district thankfully doesn't have any of the 16th district's "overly friendly"-with-teenage-boys nonsense.

But we do have Vern! Yes sir! Standing tall, leading the Republican fight to hang on to this seat is Vern "Money Bags" Buchanan. Vern has just infused nearly $3 million of his own car-dealership wealth (estimated to be $50 million) into the race to succeed political gadfly, Katherine Harris. Katherine, meanwhile, is busy self-destructing in her beleaguered campaign for the U.S. Senate against Bill Nelson.

Car salesman...oops...I mean business entrepreneur, Vern Buchanan, is bound and determined to prove that anyone can buy the American Dream. It's just that some dreams are more expensive than others.

It turns out that when Republican Rep. Mark Foley wasn't sending "overly friendly" e-mail messages and queries to teenage boys he had other things on his mind. It seems that when the congressman had temporarily rid himself of his personal urges he found the time to feel slighted. By President Bush.

This AP wire story reports that the ex-Congressman complained to the presidents brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, he felt he was "being ignored by President Bush on his trips to Florida" after several hurricanes.

The article states the ex-congressman and the brother of the president "had maintained a regular dialog" via e-mail. On September 29th, 2004 Foley asks Jeb to to intercede with the president on some perceived slights. Foley asks Jeb, "Have I done something to offend the White House? I am always getting the shaft."

Jeb responded (less than three hours later according to the AP story) with an e-mail telling the Republican Congressman that the president was busy preparing for his debate with Senator Kerry and the 2004 re-election campaign. Said Jeb, "I know it is nothing you have done."

It comes to light now that Marc Foley's sexual orientation was an open secret -- as was his "overly friendly" interest in teenage boys -- as early as 2003. The question though is this: Was George Bush and his political ferret, Karl Rove, as well as brother Jeb, aware of Foley's sexual advances toward teenage male pages in 2004 and, if so, did they engage a willful attempt to prevent and or block an investigation!!?

Just a thought...MAYBE SOMEONE SHOULD ASK W.

As Republican Rep. Christopher Shays notices his party's ship-of-state taking on water as it drifts towards port (the port of Nov. 7th) he has reached a point of panic. His Democratic opponent, Diane Farrell, is reaching more and more voters in their Connecticut congressional district. His party is reeling from the cover-up scandal involving Speaker Hastert.

So Shays has abandoned the issues of 2006. Shamelessly he has reached back for the old reliable trick: Oh, yeah? Well what about Chappaquiddick...? The neo-con approach to inspiring the electorate.

Another pivotal House race is being fought by another desperate Republican in the 13th district in Florida. Vern Buchanan has, to date, stuffed well over $2 million of his own dollars into his quest to go to Washington. The voters in this overwhelmingly red district aren't buying his negative spiel though. Twice these voters have elected Katherine Harris to Congress yet they find Buchanan to be just a bit over the top.

See the latest poll numbers on the Florida race, after the jump.

As the Mark Foley debacle continues to spin, unabated, the larger question today seems to be one for the Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert. Namely: What did you know Mr. Speaker and when did you stop knowing it? Or... has the spin cycle finally worn out on the Republican machine?

Meanwhile at the White House, the President of the United States remains true to form -- nearly incapable of telling the truth on anything unless the matter has first been leaked to the press or found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

By way of introduction, my name is Tim Keenan and I've been intrigued with partisan politics since I was nine years old and went around my neighborhood in Rochester, New York and replaced Nixon door knob campaign cards with those of JFK.

Forty-six years later, this is arguably the most crucial election for the United States of America since 1932 when FDR was elected in a landslide victory as the Republic wobbled dangerously towards anarchy. The Democratic party, more than the beleaguered Republican Party, faces a challenge that very well could determine whether it survives as a viable alternative in the two-party system.

I reside in, and I am registered to vote in, the 13th congressional district of Florida. This is the race to replace the ever-astonishing Republican moon beam, Katherine Harris. Katherine, against the adamant wishes of the Republican Party -- national (W.) and statewide (Jeb) -- is leaving behind Congress in her quest for the U.S. Senate, supported only by her legion of loyal fellow lemmings.

Running to replace the always entertaining public servant in the 13th District is Democrat Christine Jennings and Republican Vern Buchanan. Thier only issues though appear to be trite name-calling and raising bushel baskets of cash to get their message out. But to date, it seems, the only message consists of, well... trite name-calling.

The war in Iraq, the deceit so astutely laid bare in Bob Woodward's staggering and eye-opening new book, "State of Denial" is ignored in the Jennings-Buchanan text book demonstration of ad agency - apolitical consulting agency run political campaigns. With five weeks remaining, I hope to use this blog to put pressure on both candidates to address issues over sleazy tag lines and sound bites.

Ah, but hope is eternal!