Senator Mel Martinez's (R-FL) will reportedly resign today from his position as "general chairman" of the Republican National Committee, a move that has been expected for some time.

In his statement, Martinez will say that he has accomplished his goals as general chairman, and wants to focus his energies on his work in the Senate.

The general chairman position was created as an honorary role specifically for Martinez after the 2006 debacle — when Republican defeats were exacerbated by a sharp decline in the Latino vote — with longtime GOP operative Mike Duncan as the party's chairman.

However, Martinez had his own clashes with the party on the immigration issue over the past year — the same issue that has contributed so much to the Republican collapse with Hispanic voters.

GOP Senate candidate Katherine Harris --who's trailing Dem Senator Bill Nelson by as much as 28 points in recent polls -- is now questioning Nelson's religious faith. The Orlando Sentinel reports today that in a recent interview with a Christian news outlet, Harris opined that Nelson "claims to be Christian" but legislates "completely contrary to what we say we believe.”"Nelson -- who's been chairman of the National Prayer Breakfast and brought a Bible on the Space Shuttle in 1986 -- shot back: "my faith is the essence of my being. But it is part of my life I don’t feel I should try to take advantage of in the public square." Last month, Harris observed that the failure to elect Christian lawmakers amounts to "legislating sin."

Katherine Harris wants to get to the bottom of Foleygate -- that is, the role in the scandal allegedly played by Democrats and the media. Today's Miami Herald reports that Harris had this to say about the Foley scandal: "We are going to be very interested to find out who in the media or on the other side of the aisle knew about this and kept it from the public interest because our children were at stake." The DSCC quickly rejoined that unlike other Republicans, Harris has yet to return the $2,000 she received from Foley.

Does Katherine Harris have a secret cyber-admirer in India? That's the question being raised by a bunch of pro-Harris comments that have been popping up to refute anti-Harris messages on several Florida blogs. The Orlando Sentinel reports that the comments have been linked to different email addresses, but all share the same IP address in Western India. Some are speculating that the use of an Indian IP address constitutes a clever effort to conceal the origin of the posts. But the stiff writing style suggests foreign origin, leading a local blogger to crack that Harris is "outsourcing campaign support to India." More on Harris' mysterious cyber-friend after the jump.

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In the race for the seat being vacated by GOP Senate candidate Katherine Harris, Dem Christine Jennings has taken an eight point lead over Republican Vern Buchanan, a new poll by Dem firm Hamilton Beattie & Staff has found. Though the district is heavily Republican -- and the poll sample was 51% Republicans to 38% Dems -- Jennings is leading Buchanan 48%-36% among registered voters.

The Katherine Harris campaign is claiming that outgoing Gov. Jeb Bush will campaign on their behalf.  The Florida State GOP and Governor’s office say otherwise, “No such commitment exists.”

The Harris and Nelson campaigns have agreed to two debates in the lead up to the November election.  The first will be at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, the second will be at the University of Central Florida, and will be moderated by NBC’s Tim Russert and will be featured on Florida’s NBC affiliates.

Not wanting to disappoint Bill Nelson supporters in the wake of yesterday’s fundraising e-mail warning of the coming influx of negative campaigning from Katherine Harris, Ms. Harris has made it clear that the theme of her campaign will be attacks on the “ultra-liberal” Bill Nelson.  She referred to Nelson as a “liberal” no less than four times in a speech that clocked in at just less than four minutes.  Harris cites the usual Republican boilerplate about partial birth abortion, gay marriage, and tax cuts as evidence of Nelson’s out of touch, liberal policies.  Leading by 25 points in the polls, Nelson has yet to mention Ms. Harris in any official capacity.

Barely hours after Katherine Harris had secured the GOP nomination for Senate, the campaign of Dem incumbent Senator Bill Nelson fired off a fundraising email telling them to brace for an "increase in the level of distortions and negativity" from the oddball GOP nominee. (Harris? Negative? Naah.) But Harris probably won't have much help going after Nelson from from the state GOP. Florida GOP chair Carol Jean Jordan has already issued statements congratulating Charlie Crist on his victory in the GOP gubernatorial primary. But about Harris, not a single word.

Despite the string of gaffes and pratfalls that turned the Katherine Harris campaign into little more than an ongoing sit-com, Harris easily won last night's Senate primary, taking 49 percent of the vote while her challengers languished double-digits behind. Harris now faces a daunting general election against incumbent Dem Senator Bill Nelson, who's demolishing her in the polls. In the GOP primary for governor, moderate Attorney General Charlie Crist won by an even greater margin over conservative Tom Gallagher. Crist will face Rep. Jim Davis, who edged out a six-point win in the Dem primary over State Senator Rod Smith.

In her bid for the Senate, Katherine Harris has picked up an important endorsement from Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Thomas.  So why should one vote for Katherine Harris in the upcoming Republican Primary?  According to Thomas, it’s the pure entertainment value of the ongoing debacle that is the Katherine Harris show.  She has already gone through four press secretaries, four campaign managers, and one speech-writer, so why not go for some record between now and Nov?  Thomas calls her “our very own own Bree Van de Kamp” and urges all his readers to support her, lest the show get canceled before sweeps, “Whether she's hoisting angry possums up by the tail, firing the latest campaign manager, talking to her invisible mice friends Gus and Jaq, or getting Sean Hannity all hot and bothered with that great profile, Katherine is my gal.”

In the latest poll of the Republican primary, attorney Will McBride comes closest to Katherine Harris, trailing 38%-22%. McBride has pitched himself in a TV ad as "a Republican who can win for the U.S. Senate," and has picked up some notable endorsements such as the Orlando Sentinel. A question worth asking: would he be doing better with GOP voters if he didn't share his name with Bill McBride, the 2002 Dem nominee for governor?

The Katherine Harris traveling circus has just hit the airwaves: Harris has launched a TV ad attacking incumbent Dem Senator Bill Nelson. The ad twice calls Harris "gutsy" -- a rather daring euphemism, in our view -- and it slams Nelson as a "do nothing liberal Senator." View the ad here.

Stranger and stranger. Katherine Harris says that a failure to elect Christians will make it possible for lawmakers to "legislate sin." Harris made the comments in an interview with the Florida Baptist Witness. Asked why Florida Baptists should care about this primary election, Harris said in part: "If you are not electing Christians, tried and true, under public scrutiny and pressure, if you're not electing Christians then in essence you are going to legislate sin." Read Harris' full answer after the jump.

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The Katherine Harris follies continue. TPM muckraker's Justin Rood brings word of yet another campaign fiasco: It seems that the Harris campaign bragged that a bunch of high-profile backers would be coming to show their support for her at a campaign rally -- but exactly zero of the nine expected officials bothered to show up.

Katherine Harris campaign gets caught touting the endorsements of...people who never endorsed her. See the details over at TPM muckraker.

Redstate.com has just posted a video of Tramm Hudson -- a Republican who's frontrunner in the race for the House seat of Senate candidate Katherine Harris -- saying this:

"I grew up In Alabama, and I understand, and I know this from my own experience, that blacks are not the greatest swimmers or may not even know to swim."

We have the video, which cuts off soon after that remark, after the jump.

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Rep. Katherine Harris (R): "God wants me to be a senator."

Former Harris top political adviser Ed Rollins: "Maybe God wants you to run because he wants Bill Nelson to be senator."

That exchange and more in today's Tampa Tribune profile of the divinely-inspired candidate abandoned by her party and faring dismally in the polls.

Sure, it's just piling on at this point, but what the heck. The St. Petersburg Times today spoke to a bunch more former Katherine Harris staffers who talked on the record about what a nightmare working for Harris was:

One minute, U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris would lavish campaign staffers with praise and hugs. The next she would lose her temper, screaming "stupid" or "idiot" at a startled employee.

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We've been saying it around the Election Central office for awhile, but this makes it official. Via the Miami Herald's Naked Politics, we learn that urbandictionary.com has coined a new term: "Katherine Harris crazy."

It means having "an overly optimistic estimation of someone's chances of achieving success."

For example: "Did you hear about the candidate who doesn't have the support of her own party, is constantly the subject of leaks saying she's going to drop out of the race, is losing staff at a furious rate, and still thinks she's going to win?"

That candidate is "Katherine Harris crazy."

Could Katherine Harris's comedy-of-errors Senate campaign boost Dem turnout statewide, imperiling the GOP's ability to hang on to at least one House seat seen as key to a Dem takeover? TPM muckraker's Justin Rood says yes, and lays out the case.

This is pretty bizarre -- even by Katherine Harris's outsized standards. You may remember that yesterday the AP obtained a confidential letter in which the chair of the Florida GOP informed Harris (R) that the state party would not support her Senate campaign. The letter said her campaign "faces irreparable damage."

So what's Harris now done? She's actually trying to argue that the letter wasn't really criticism of her campaign. How did she accomplish this rhetorical feat? We'll tell you after the jump.

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The Florida GOP has informed Katherine Harris (R) that it will not support her Senate campaign, according to a confidential letter obtained by the Associated Press today. Read the AP article here.