Katherine Harris lost her bid to unseat Florida Senator Bill Nelson. Smiling broadly, the Sarasota Republican told supporters to carry-on the conservative banner.

“We are unbowed in our devotion to responsible conservative vision and that means lower taxes, less government, secure borders, reasonable immigration reform and very importantly making sure that we uphold and protect our traditional values”

Harris has served in public office since 1994. She said she believes that public service is still a noble calling. She said her only regret was not so much losing the election, but losing her father this year.

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Katherine Harris gracefully conceded to Senator Bill Nelson last evening in Sarasota. Harris admitted she faced many obstacles during the campaign but, given the chance, would do it all over again.

“With the exception of losing my dad there is not one single thing that I would reverse the tide on because it had grown my character, it has grown my faith. And I’ve had the chance to meet some of the most remarkable people and solidify friendships that I’ve had over the years more so than any other time in my life and I would not turn back the hands of time for anything so for that I thank you.”

Nelson won 60-percent of the vote to Katherine Harris' 38-percent.

The race for Florida’s 13th Congressional District is headed for a recount. When all the votes were tabulated early this morning (Wednesday) Republican Vern Buchanan led Democrat Christine Jennings by 368 votes. That’s a margin of just three-tenths of one-percent. Florida law mandates a manual recount in such a close race.

That was not the only problem for the Christine Jennings campaign. For most of the day they heard anecdotal reports of people having trouble voting for her. They would punch her name into the touch screen machine, but not see it when it came time to confirm their choice. Jennings told supporters this was no time to concede the race.

“Right now the most important thing, and I believe that my opponent would agree, is to make sure that the right of Florida voters are protected and that every vote is counted.”

Sarasota Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent is expected to convene the canvassing board later today to conduct the recount. While there are absentee ballots to review, all other votes were done electronically, leaving no paper trail.

Democrat Tim Mahoney takes over District 16, which includes parts of Charlotte County. It used to belong to former Congressman Mark Foley. Republican state representative Joe Negron conceded to Mahoney last night. Mahoney says it’s now time to get to work.

“We talk about issues and solve problems with having to do with homeowner’s insurance, social security, affordable health care. I mean we’ve got a lot of work to do. And I’m really anxious to go into Washington in the majority and being able to bring the results home to the people of the 16th congressional district.”

Mahoney’s victory helps Democrats regain control of the House by taking a seat that had been seen as securely in GOP hands before Foley’s troubles. Foley resigned in September after being confronted with lurid computer messages he sent to male teenage pages.

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For the first time in more than 30 years, a Democrat will represent Florida’s 16th Congressional District. As Justin Gilken reports, Palm Beach Gardens businessman Tim Mahoney defeated Republican state representative Joe Negron by fewer than 5-thousand votes…
Mahoney took the stage to claim victory around 11-pm Tuesday to the music of the rock band U-2… surrounded by family, friends and supporters at the Jupiter Beach Resort. The political newcomer says his number one concern in Washington will be ethics reform, and he promised bi-partisan leadership…

Mahoney was initially considered a long-shot for the 16th district against Republican Mark Foley… but the seat became a toss-up when the six-term incumbent suddenly resigned from office in late September, after it was revealed that he exchanged sexually-explicit online messages with former congressional pages. To replace Foley, the G-O-P selected Joe Negron. Late Tuesday, the Stuart Republican praised his campaign for keeping the race close, despite having only five weeks to build support, and the fact that Foley’s name appeared on the ballot…

The sprawling 16th district is one of about 30 seats Democrats picked up in gaining control of the U-S House for the first time since 1994. Both parties tapped considerable resources to win the seat, spending a combined $2-point-3 million dollars in a matter of weeks, much of it on a barrage of competing television ads.

Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent says Republican Vern Buchanan's 368-vote win over Democrat Christine Jennings in the 13th Congressional District is headed for a recount.

Dent said her workers ran a great election and she did not know the exact causes of a 18,000-vote difference between the total number of ballots cast in Sarasota and those cast in the race for district 13.

Dent said the undervote most likely was caused by voters overlooking the race because of the way the ballot was laid out. She is confident the machines worked properly. And she says the voters need to be pro-active.

“We can’t do anything when voters walk away and decide they have a problem, we need to know about the problem when we can take care of the problem."

Dent said she received reports from both Jennings and Buchanan supporters that the machines did not register votes for the house race.

The manual recount will should be complete by November 18th.

She encouraged voters who had problems to report them to her office, but didn’t know what they would be able to do.

The Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections says there were more than 18-thousand undervotes in the District 13 Congressional race. That means people who voted in other races, neglected to vote in the race between Democrat Christine Jennings and Republican Vern Buchanan. Buchanan leads the race by just 368 votes. Jennings says her supporters had trouble with the touch-screen electronic voting machines.

“Sarasota voters have been victimized by not having their vote count. I hope my opponent agrees that the most important thing is to make sure that every vote throughout the district is counted and counted accurately”

Since the race is so close, state law mandates a recount. That must be completed by November 18. There are also 200 provisional ballots yet to be approved. The Buchanan campaign remains confident their candidate will come out the winner in the end.

Republicans held their majority in Lee County’s legislative delegation as GOP candidate Nick Thompson won the only state House seat. Thompson says his number one priority right now is to get ready for a special session to lower property insurance.

“ That’s the thing that’s going to be facing us immediately. I’m going up there Thursday for orientation and I will be working with House leadership on the ideas that are coming out of the task force on property insurance so that we can get ready for the special session.”

Thompson defeated Democratic attorney Pete Burkert to take the seat previously held by GOP Representative Bruce Kyle, who stepped down because of term limits.

Assistant U-S Attorney Bob Mosakowski will serve as the Election Officer for the Middle District of Florida...which includes all of Southwest Florida.

He and appointees like him across the country are part of the U-S Department of Justice’s “Ballot Access & Voting Integrity Initiative”. Its goal is to help ensure public confidence in the election process.

Mosakowski says while the Justice Department has provided election monitors for decades, their level of training has increased in recent years.

“Prior to the election of 2000 there were district election officers, but after the election we started going to Washington every year for 2 days of training. It became much higher profile and much more effort was put into the program.”

Mosakowski will be available until polls close at 7:00. He can be reached at area code 813-274-6129 – or at 813-274-6000.

Complaints about ballot access problems or discrimination can be made directly to the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section in Washington, D-C by calling 1-800-253-3931.

On November 2nd, 1982 a black woman was elected to the Fort Myers City Council. Veronica Shoemaker was the first African American to win an elected office in the City of Palms.

As "A Florida Life Remembers" returns to the airwaves, we hear from Mr. Pat McCutcheon. Born in Fort Myers in 1921, and raised under Jim Crow, McCutcheon organized the voter registration that ultimately led to Veronica Shoemaker's electoral victory 24 years ago.

The 85 year old still works part-time. During his life he's been a taylor, a shopkeeper and a storeowner. His hobby is collecting model trains.

"A Florida Life Remembered is produced in cooperation with the Lee County Public Library System.

The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation kicked off a “Preserve the Land—Protect the Water” campaign today. The nearly three million dollar plan will enable the foundation to acquire important wildlife habitat along the Sanibel River as well as cutting-edge water quality research technology. WGCU’s Christine Buckley has more.

Cuts in the federal budget could mean staff cuts at the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island.

More than 800 thousand people visited Ding Darling last year. It’s one of the top spots for birding in North America. But under a budget proposed by U. S. and Wildlife Service access to the Visitor’s center might be cut by two days a week – and staff reduced four by full-time positions. Ranger Kevin Goodsea says the proposed budget is a reflection of the times.

"federal budgets are tight right now – we have the war on terror the war in iraq – hurricane damages from Katrina – all of those things are putting an enormous stress on the federal budget right now"

Goodsea says no one will be fired – but that open staff position will not be filled. Outreach and education activities would also be reduced under the proposed budget. Under the proposed plan the Florida Panther and Ten Thousand Island National Wildlife refuges would also lose staff.