Bill Nelson picked up editorial endorsements from three Florida daily newspapers this weekend, bringing his total to 10. So far, Katherine Harris has not received any endorsements in the U.S. Senate general election.

The latest three papers to back Nelson were the Tampa Tribune, St. Petersburg Times, and Gainesville Sun.

Other paper endorsements came from the Palm Beach Post, Daytona Beach News-Journal, Fort Pierce Tribune, Port St. Lucie News, Stuart News, Vero Beach Press Journal and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Katherine Harris’ latest photo-op attack on Bill Nelson took place today at a gas station in Seminole County.

Harris blamed Nelson for America’s dependence on foreign oil, noting that he voted against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and voted for a bill she said would allow drilling as close as three miles off Florida’s Atlantic coastline.

“That’s just flat out false,” said Bryan Gulley, Nelson’s campaign spokesman. “Make her show you that piece of legislation because there was no piece of legislation.”

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Why have a news conference inside the stuffy old U.S. Capitol when you can stand on a wind-swept street corner sucking down bus fumes and wrestling with your speech?

But it was not just any corner Katherine Harris was standing on this morning, it was the corner in front of the sign in front of the building that houses the Internal Revenue Service.

“The people of Florida need to know that Bill Nelson wants to send more of their money to the IRS,” Harris said. “He wants to send more of their dollars to Washington politicians to spend on bloated federal government.”

Harris repeated her charge that Nelson has voted against eliminating the “death tax” — that’s what Republicans call the tax on estates — voted against doubling child tax credits, and voted against reducing the so-called “marriage penalty,” which taxes some married couples at a higher rate than singles living together.

Nelson spokesman Bryan Gulley sent reporters an e-mail responding to Harris’ statements:

“Bill Nelson is a fiscal conservative who has voted for tax cuts some 80 times. In fact, he led the effort to save Floridians $730 million a year for the last two years by allowing them to deduct state sales taxes on their federal tax returns. These false and negative attacks by Katherine Harris are intended to deflect attention from her own very serious troubles and the FBI probe into her relationship with a bribe-paying defense contractor and corrupt congressmen.”

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Katherine Harris told MSNBC’s “Hardball” host Chris Matthews that being parodied on Saturday Night Live is “unusual.”

“I’m not even sure I understand how people think of me because it’s a caricature. It’s not real,” Harris said, referring to spoofs of her on the comedy show. Harris said people react more positively toward her “when they know the truth in terms of the (2000 presidential) election,” when she was Florida’s secretary of state.

Harris said polls show her closing the gap with Bill Nelson. A recent poll showed Nelson with approximatley a 15 point lead.

“”We’ll time it just right and we’ll win.” she said

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Katherine Harris’ campaign is touting a poll showing her 15 percentage points behind Bill Nelson.

The poll, conducted last week by SurveyUSA on behalf of television stations WFLA-TV Tampa, WTLV-TV Jacksonville, and WKRG-TV Pensacola, shows Harris “is closing the gap” and “demonstrates the tremendous momentum that continues to build for the Harris campaign,” according to a news release sent out by her campaign.

The poll of 780 voters found Nelson leasing 53 percent to 38 percent with 9 percent undecided. The poll carried a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent.

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Five members of the Florida congressional delegation and Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty participated in a hearing this morning on stabilizing property insurance markets for coastal consumers.

But Rep. Katherine Harris, one of four members from Florida serving on the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises, wasn’t there.

Harris has blasted Sen. Bill Nelson for the skyrocketing insurance rates because he served as Florida Insurance Commissioner in the late 1990s.

Nelson’s staff reveled in Harris’ absence. Here’s an e-mail from Dan McLaughlin, Nelson’s deputy chief of staff and communications director:

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The National Right to Life National Political Action Committee has endorsed both Katherine Harris and Bill McBride to take on Bill Nelson.

PAC political director Karen Cross said it was not unusual for the anti-abortion group to support more than one candidate in a primary to take on an incumbent the organization opposes. The group has more than 3,000 chapters nationwide.

“Katherine Harris and Will McBride are solidly pro-life. We appreciate their willingness to take up the fight for life in the U.S. Senate,

Katherine Harris apparently is still tops in her backyard.

The Pinellas County Republican Party straw poll at its Victory 2006 picnic Sunday showed Harris with 121 votes followed by LeRoy Collins Jr., 56; Peter Monroe, 32; and Will McBride, 24.

McBride is touting a different straw poll with the opposite results.

McBride swept the Leadership Lake County Alumni Association’s 2006 Political Hob Nob Tuesday night. McBride had 101 votes to Bill Nelson, 96; Harris 58; Collins, 37; and Peter Monroe 5.

Peter Monroe said he accepts what he describes as Katherine Harris’ challenge to debate her Sept. 5 primary opponents.

Monroe referred to a July 6 interview on WESH Channel 2, Orlando-Daytona, in which Harris said about debating her opponents: “I’d be delighted. It really doesn’t matter. They have no record.” Harris also said she has a clear record of voting contrary to Bill Nelson.

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Will McBride says he’ll fight for passage of the Fair Tax Act if elected to the U.S. Senate. With the proposed Fair Tax, “most Americans, especially the poor, will pay less than they
currently do,

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, a self-proclaimed taxpayer watchdog group, has released its annual ratings of how well members of Congress did in voting against what it deems “wasteful programs and pork-barrel spending.”

Not surprisingly, the list of issues chosen by the group favors Republicans over Democrats.

Among the Florida delegation,

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Isn’t it interesting how campaign money seems to track poll numbers?

Will McBride has released his campaign finance figures for the past three months. McBride raised just over $302,000 including $68,000 of his own money.

That puts him ahead of Peter Monroe, who raised about $250,000 including $110,000 of his own money, and LeRoy Collins Jr., who raised about $100,000 including $20,000 of his own money. But he’s way behind Katherine Harris, who raised $1.1 millon for the quarter.

The poll numbers show the four GOP Senate candidates in the same order.

And they show all four far behind Democrat Bill Nelson, who raised $2.3 million.

Katherine Harris used $100,000 in campaign contributions during the last quarter to finish renovations of what her campaign describes as her “historic home in Washington D.C.”

The money repays part of the $3.25 million Harris has lent her Senate campaign so far.

A campaign news release says Harris is renovating her house to sell “to fund the campaign, if necessary.”

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Peter Monroe (left) and Will McBride chat before speaking to the Orange County Republican Executive Committee.

GOP Senate hopefuls Peter Monroe and Will McBride went head-to-head Thursday night urging members of the Orange County Republican Executive Committee to support their candidacies.

Monroe cast himself as a Ronald Reagan-Republican with a “Conservative Action” agenda.

McBride cast himself as a staunch social and fiscal conservative who wants to restore ethics to Washington and be known as a “deficit hawk.”

The two challengers held their fire against each other, focusing primarily on primary opponent Katherine Harris and incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson.

Harris, meanwhile, was in Kissimmee, addressing a Florida Republican Women’s Club. Harris is scheduled to make a couple of appearances Friday in Lakeland.

The fourth GOP hopeful, LeRoy Collins Jr., spent the day hop-scotching from one newspaper editorial board to another down Florida’s southeast coast touting his record as a retired two-star U.S. Navy submariner.

Katherine Harris dismisses Will McBride’s claim that he’d do better against Bill Nelson than she would.

McBride is touting a recent Quinnipiac University poll that showed Nelson would beat him by 31 percentage points and would beat Harris by 33 percentage points.

The poll of 1,311 Florida voters had a margin of error of 2.7 percentage points.

The poll shows “Will McBride is gaining momentum in a very fluid environment and Harris’ support is very soft,” said McBride campaign manager Jack St. John in a news release.

Harris says she’s not concerned with what McBride says because “we’ll be the nominee.”

She says she’s happy to have the primary election competition because it energizes her supporters early in the election season.

The Quinnipiac poll showed Harris with 35 percent of the GOP primary vote to McBride with 16 percent, Peter Monroe, 4 percent, and LeRoy Collins Jr. 3 percent. “Don’t Know” came in first with 38 percent.

Meanwhile, Harris points to a recent Zogby International poll that she says showed her closing on Nelson by 13 points over a previous poll. However, the Zogby-Wall Street Journal poll showed that Nelson has increased his lead by 6 points from a 12 percent lead in March to an 18 percent lead in June.

Sen. Mel Martinez has been chosen for a “Best and Brightest Award” from the American Conservative Union for his votes on 25 issues in 2005 selected by the conservative lobbying organization. Martinez and Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, were the only Florida delegation members to score 100 percent.

Rep. Katherine Harris came in with a 92 percent rating. She parted ways with the union on two issues. One was an amendment that would have lifted the ban on natural gas drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf; Harris voted against lifting the ban, the union wanted it lifted. The other was to set higher vehicle mileage standards. Harris supported the effort; the union opposed it. House members and senators were not rated on the same items because some were only considered in one chamber or the other.

Sen. Bill Nelson scored a 20, which was a substantial shift to the right from his score of 4 for 2004. Among other local lawmakers: E. Clay Shaw Jr., scored 71; Mark Foley scored 63; Alcee Hastings scored 4 and Robert Wexler scored zero.

Anybody think the Senate vote on the proposed constitutional amendment to define marriage involved politics?

Rep. Katherine Harris lost no time sending out an e-mail after the vote chiding Sen. Bill Nelson for voting against it.

“I believe the majority of Americans strongly support the preservation of traditional marriage being defined as the union between one man and one woman. We must never undermine the uniqueness of an institution that continues to serve as an essential thread in the fabric of our society. I am disappointed the Marriage Protection Amendment did not pass the Senate, and I know Floridians are disappointed with the vote cast by my opponent,” Harris said.

Nelson, who voted to block the amendment, answered with this e-mail from spokesman Dan McLaughlin: “Senator Nelson firmly believes marriage should be between one man and one woman, but that the states and not the federal government should regulate marriage. He supports the Florida law that already bans same-sex marriage, and the federal law that says Florida doesn’t have to honor a gay marriage from another state. He didn’t vote for the proposed federal amendment for these reasons, and also because it would have allowed the federal government to regulate other relationships besides marriage.”

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What would income tax filing day be without an attack on taxes? Rep. Katherine Harris used the occasion to decry what she calls Sen. Bill Nelson’s “long and deplorable record of just saying ‘no’ to tax relief for hard-working Floridians.”

In a news release Monday, Harris said she has “championed permanent taxpayer relief for America’s workers, seniors, small businesses and families.” Meanwhile, she says, Nelson has supported tax increases or rejected taxpayer relief on Social Security benefits, married couples, small businesses and “even when you die.”

Not so, says Chad Clanton, Nelson’s campaign manager. He says the senator has supported numerous tax cuts including a bill to eliminate the estate tax. Nelson is the chief cosponsor – and only Democratic cosponsor among seven Republicans – of S. 420, the “Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act of 2005.”