Rep. Katherine Harris has earned herself another dubious distinction. After doing her best to secure Florida's electoral votes for President Bush in 2000, the former Florida secretary of state turned U.S. Rep is now inventing terror plots to boost Bush's campaign. The AP reports today:
"Republican Rep. Katherine Harris said Wednesday she regrets concerns caused by her claim that a plot existed to blow up the power grid in Carmel, Ind. City officials disputed the claims of a plot.
"'I was told in an open, group setting that a recent situation threatened a Midwestern community and that it had been diffused,' Harris said Wednesday. 'I regret that I had no knowledge of the sensitive nature of this situation and any undue concern this may have caused.'
"But the Florida lawmaker stands by her statement that the United States has thwarted more than 100 potential terrorist attacks.
"Harris, who was at the center of the political storm over the disputed 2000 presidential election, made the comments about terrorism and the plot on Monday at a rally for President Bush in Venice, Fla., and a subsequent interview with the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
"She told the audience that while in the Midwest recently, a mayor told her about a plot in Carmel and how a man of Middle Eastern heritage had been arrested and hundreds of pounds of explosives were found in his home.
"'He had plans to blow up the area's entire power grid,' she said, according to the newspaper.
"City officials in Carmel said they know of no such plot."
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