Talk:Fred R. Harris

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[edit] 1976 Presidentail Campaign

I won't change the page, because I don't have time to source my clear memories. But the article as it now stands significantly overstates Harris's role in 1976 presidential politics. When the two most prominent possible liberal candidates for the nomination (Mondale and Ted Kennedy) declined to run, Harris became one of several hopefuls trying to capture the support of the liberal wing of the party. The article makes it seem as if Udall and Harris had comparable support, while others were insignificant. In fact, Udall quickly emerged as the liberal candidate, with Harris being only one amonmg several who failed to capture that role. Senator Birch Bayh was probably at least as prominent as Harris. Founding Peace Corps Director (and Kennedy borhter-in-law) Sargent Shriver was not much less prominent. And I think there are others I'm forgetting. Dvd Avins 20:28, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

I worked on Fred Harris' campaign (for several monmths as a mid level staffer in Pennsylvania and as a two-week volunteer in New Hampshire). For what it is worth, my memory is that Fred had a lot of support among committed left individuals and organizations (such as, e.g., the Women's League for Peace and Freedom), and that we certainly perceived Udall as our main competitor for the former McGovern voters within the party. We thought we were winning against Udall until the night of the New Hampshire primary, where we came in fourth. After Walter Cronkite announcced the result and announced that, in his opinion, the "top three" were still viable, our contributions and volunteers dried up. The article is also accurate in stating that the campaign had serious funding problems. There were severl times in Pennsylvania that I would take a train to a meeting with a local party group knowing that -- unless I collected some contributions --I would not have enough money in my pocket to pay for my return fare. In Keene, New Hampshire during the two weeks before the primary, our foos budget worked out to 47cents per person per day. John Devlin john.devlin@law.lsu.edu 130.39.14.164 (talk) 14:11, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Something's wrong with this story

I don't know what the details are, but the story is obviously more complex than how it's presented here. After looking at all the other related Wikipedia articles, it's clear that Harris actually succeeded Edmonson in 1964 -- not Kerr. But a casual reader would never guess that from this account. If somebody knows the real details of the story, please take a few minutes to straighten out those passages in the article. Cgingold 17:26, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Kerr died, and Edmondson was appointed to his seat. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 170.3.8.253 (talk) 19:14, August 24, 2007 (UTC)

Why is his being sworn in as soon as the votes were verified labeled dubious? It was a special election to fill an unexpired term. Swift assumption of office is typical in such circumstances. Dvd Avins (talk) 23:53, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

It's not complicated at all. Edmondson left the seat before the rest of the new senators were inaugurated so Harris could gain seniority over other new senators. It happens often. - KrakatoaKatie 12:26, 28 March 2008 (UTC)