Look at the general context of the Kratovil statement — the entire passage, not just that single phrase. The DT error was obvious and corrected almost immediately. Eveyone, Harris and Meekins included, knew that. Face it, your boy “Dr. Deceit” is a LIAR! And, once we practice to deceive — he can’t stop, as in the stuff he has put our about the criminal cases.

This has been one of the most disgraceful campaigns I can recall — Harris deserves to have his head handed to him by the Republican voters.

There is still a dispute of fact, thus one cannot be lying. Kratovil is an attorney, he should know all about the parsing of words.

Here’s the meat of that editorial — how about refuting it:

“So Dr. Harris is simply lying. There’s no other explanation, unless he wants voters to believe he’s an imbecile . . .”.

“Mr. Kratovil compared his views on campaigning to trying to win a court case.”

It’s too bad he didn’t use the consistency of a court case, where you have to stay on message throughout the trial to convince a jury, for his Congressional campaign. I’m starting to think he should be called “Flip-flop Frank.”

Andy Harris clearly is willing to do anything to get to Congress. Anything.

In the desperate last weeks of his House campaign, the Republican state senator from Baltimore County is suggesting in mailers and news releases that his Democratic opponent, Queen Anne’s County State’s Attorney Frank Kratovil, threw a court case as a favor to a political donor and let a child molester off easy because he’s such a soft-hearted liberal.

In public debates, Dr. Harris also continues to lie about another statement by his opponent.

“It’s outrageous,” Mr. Kratovil told me. “I think he knows that the only way he wins now is to bring my positives down.”

Dr. Harris, who’s an anesthesiologist at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, knows he’s lying and obviously doesn’t care. He’s making the calculation that the slurs will stick even if the facts don’t – at least in the minds of enough voters to sway a very close race in the 1st Congressional District, which includes the entire Eastern Shore and parts of Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Harford counties.

Now, about those facts. They might not matter much to Dr. Harris, but here are a few anyway.

Did Donna Jones, as a Harris mailer strongly suggests, get off easy because her lawyer gave Mr. Kratovil a campaign donation?

No; Ms. Jones made a deal to testify against her boyfriend, career criminal Gary Corn. Thanks to that leverage, he pleaded guilty in two cases to burglary, robbery and theft and has been sentenced to 50 years in prison. Sounds like a smart prosecutor to me.

The case against the sex offender, Robert Dwyer, who pleaded to lesser charges, was weak. That’s what Mr. Kratovil said, anyway – and Dr. Harris couldn’t refute that because he admitted he knows nothing about the facts of the case.

A Harris mailer claims Mr. Kratovil “declined to prosecute” 15 of 17 charges against Mr. Dwyer. Well, that’s called a plea agreement, and it happens in almost every case in every court in America, as the lawyers who fed the case to the Harris campaign know very well. But hey, who cares about facts or context? These cases are just political tools for Dr. Harris.

“We present the facts and people will judge,” Dr. Harris said Friday when I called him.

In other words, throw enough mud and some will stick. At the very least, the repetition of the accusations helps you. Here’s a memo, Dr. Harris: A mailer can include some facts and still be a lie if it makes baseless allegations. Indeed, even by writing this column, I risk giving credence to those contemptible charges.

But it’s worth that risk to raise this question: What kind of man would sacrifice every vestige of honor just to win a seat in Congress?

Political scientists say the reason so many candidates campaign negatively is that it works. Voters will tell pollsters they hate attack ads, but the truth is the messages stick, perhaps subconsciously. On Tuesday, though, voters in the 1st District can send a strong message against dishonest, detestable campaigning.

Whether you’re liberal, conservative or somewhere in between, ask yourself before you vote: If this is what Dr. Harris is willing to do to get to Capitol Hill, what might he be willing to do once he’s there? “In my view that’s the problem with politics,” Mr. Kratovil said. “You have people who think it’s so important to be in that position and are willing to do or say anything to get in, and once they’re there are willing to do or say anything to stay there.”

When I read him that quote, Dr. Harris responded puzzlingly, without elaboration: “This is from a lawyer who solicits and accepts campaign contributions from criminal defense attorneys. Period.”

Dr. Harris’ attacks on Mr. Kratovil’s professional ethics also are undermined by the fact that nearly every elected prosecutor in the state – Democrat or Republican – has condemned them.

Then there’s Dr. Harris’ false claim that when talking about the economy at a forum last month, Mr. Kratovil said the federal government had “solved the crisis.” Supposedly, the comment showed his naivete.

What Mr. Kratovil actually said, as proven by an audio recording on his Web site, was something far more general, that politicians too often fail to address underlying problems as they deal with particular crises.

“The bigger issue is what do we do now,” he said. “And as I mentioned in my talk, you know, in this country you oftentimes deal with a crisis – we solve the crisis, but we don’t always deal with the long-term issues that led to the crisis.”

So Dr. Harris is simply lying. There’s no other explanation, unless he wants voters to believe he’s an imbecile – not likely for someone who got through medical school at The Johns Hopkins University.

An Eastern Shore newspaper initially reported that Mr. Kratovil said, “We solved the crisis,” but even when the paper corrected its story, Dr. Harris and his political handlers continued to lie shamelessly.

Of course, Dr. Harris denied saying anything untrue and maintained that the full transcript of the evening would show the comment was in the context of the current bailout. He then turned the issue around, blaming the “stunning” bias of the mainstream media, which he said should apply similar scrutiny to questionable claims by Mr. Kratovil about his Senate voting record.

But every campaign includes such run-of-the-mill accusations about the candidates’ records. Dr. Harris calling Mr. Kratovil a “Martin O’Malley tax and spend liberal”? Sure. Mr. Kratovil labeling Dr. Harris a far-right conservative? Fine. Both are up for debate. But some things are far, far over the line.

Mr. Kratovil compared his views on campaigning to trying to win a court case.

“For me it’s particularly tough, because as a prosecutor, I believe in fighting to win and being tough,” he said. “But I believe in being fair. … I want to win. I want to bring that person to justice. But I’m not going to cheat.”

The attacks leave Mr. Kratovil frustrated and unsure how to respond. He knows that facts aren’t always enough in politics. But he said: “We can only hope that after years of this kind of advertising that people are tired of it.”

Andy Harris is about to find out.

It’s a little off topic but I wish what you said about taking one’s vote for granted were really true, considering how minorities have been treated by the Democrats for two generations. Yet the black vote still splits 90-10 or so Democrat.

Back to Harris. I’ve found him to be a confident sort of person but he didn’t come off as cocky to me. Granted, I’m not dealing with him as much as some others do but he’s always taken a few moments to speak with me when I see him.

I would have preferred a much more positive campaign, but when one is attacked (and remember, Frank attacked first in the general election campaign) they’re either going to fight or run. Andy chose to fight.

Fact is, Harris should have embraced someone like you instead of the clowns. No doubt, you communicate and relate to others much better. That being said, in politics you should always play like you’re behind. Leave little to chance. When voters sense a candidate taking their vote for granted, they start looking around.

Overall, Harris needed to be more “human”. Instead, he chose to be cocky and confrontational. That sealed the deal for me. Don’t get me wrong. I am a conservative leaning person whose comfortable with Kratovil. Still, I would’ve seriously considered Harris had he been a little more humble. Of course, his association with certain groups trouble me as well.

Given recent election results, you can’t blame Harris for being very confident about his success back in February. It took a very negative campaign by Frank Kratovil and megabucks from the national party along with the economic tsunami which hit the country to even make this race close – I honestly believe in a “normal” year this would be a 15 to 20 point Harris win.

You may like my next post better.

As for the polls, they all show the race within the margin of error. Back in February, Harris viewed the General Election as a mere formality. Perhaps if he didn’t openly display such cockiness, people would like him more. It’s further compounded by the people he surrounds himself with. The likes of Grant Deaver in Pasadena and the two clowns of Salisbury tend to alienate people. And, don’t even get me started on that joke of a campaign manager he employs.

If anyone should be in panic mode, it’s Frank Kratovil and his campaign – what happened to that lead you supposedly had? I’m very confident because I’m backing a candidate who’s more in tune with the Eastern Shore than the (barely) Eastern Shore resident.