The lady varnishes

Katherine Harris has had a pronounced influence on both my political beliefs and my approach to cosmetics, assuming I can even speak of these as two distinct philosophies. While I had certainly seen women of faith go where few others dared to tread, their eye makeup usually ended up smeared all over their blouses. Katherine, however, was a completely different animal. Here was an elected official whose bold application of eyeshadow was just as unapologetic as Katherine herself. So it was with a heavy heart I read the following:

Katherine Harris has been a fund-raising dynamo since the 2000 presidential election, capable of raising large sums of money anywhere in the nation.

But during the first three months of her U.S. Senate campaign, Harris has uncharacteristically struggled to keep pace financially with Sen. Bill Nelson, the Democrat she is hoping to unseat in 2006. ...

Campaign workers for Harris, R-Longboat Key, say they don’t know yet how much she has raised but acknowledge she has had trouble.

They blame the slowdown on hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Harris campaign workers would only say that her financial reports, when released next week, will show she has raised more than the $500,000 cited in one published report.

I realize I've only been blogging for a short while, but now seems to be the time to cash out what little good will I've cultivated among my readers to come to Katherine's aid. A lot of noble causes are competing for your contributions, so how about some sort of donations-in-kind for Katherine? I've cleaned out my vanity and have a huge box of frosted lipsticks and false eyelashes headed her way. I urge you all to do the same.