This is the first of two articles that examine the likely opponents in Florida's 2006 U.S. Senate race. On Tuesday read about U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, the Democratic incumbent.

U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris arrived in Washington, D.C., as a Republican celebrity, renowned for her role as Florida's secretary of state during the contested 2000 presidential election.

Yet the Sarasota Republican's legislative record is decidedly lower-profile. Even as she launches a bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, Harris works in Washington often without the glare of a spotlight -- not unlike most of the 435 members of the House, whose clout is limited if they don't chair a committee.

Harris, 48, whose Senate campaign got off to a rocky start when GOP leaders made no secret of their belief she's too divisive to oust Nelson, insists voters will embrace her as they get to know her. And Harris has had her victories -- most significantly, her American Dream Downpayment Act, which offers low-income families help with buying homes, was signed into law by President Bush in 2003 when Harris was still a freshman.

And last summer, Harris was tapped as a GOP whip, wrangling votes for the party during a frenzied push for the Central American Free Trade Agreement. It passed, if by only two votes and aided with aggressive campaigning by President Bush.

''It was a hugely important deal for all parties,'' said Harris, a member of the House International Relations Committee and a staunch supporter of free trade.

''She was always willing to meet and strategize and support those who were working in favor of CAFTA,'' said Ana Navarro, a Republican strategist who helped the lobbying efforts of the government of El Salvador.

Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael Oxley credited Harris with ''doing her homework'' and effectively participating in committee deliberations.

''I think Katherine has drawn some unfair criticism that she's some sort of a show horse,'' the Ohio Republican said. ''On our committee she's shown great leadership.'' For her part, Harris said she's ''more comfortable'' behind the scenes. She pointed to her success at seeing that her call for tougher sentencing guidelines for sex offenders was rolled into a child-safety bill. That came after her proposal, Carlie's Law, named after Carlie Brucia, a Sarasota girl who was abducted and killed in February 2004, failed to gain traction.

Harris, who is counting on a groundswell of support from Republican activists to defeat Nelson, is a reliably Republican voter, and conservative groups like the Christian Coalition and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce routinely give her near-perfect ratings.

She voted in favor of a chamber-backed bill that curtails class-action lawsuits by moving most of them from state to federal court and supported a business-backed bankruptcy bill that critics say will make it harder for debt-burdened consumers to fend off creditors.

She also voted for the emergency legislation aimed at prolonging brain-damaged Terri Schiavo's life and against legislation to allow federal research on stem cells from human embryos.

Groups like the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters place her in the cellar for votes that include opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, and the AFL-CIO last month described Harris as ''against working families,'' in part for voting against raising the federal minimum wage.

Harris sided with the Republican majority as the House wrapped up its work last month, voting for a plan that cuts the deficit by almost $40 billion over five years with legislation that conservatives hailed as fiscal discipline and Democrats criticized as a raid on programs for the poor.

According to the independent online Votetracker, Harris voted with the president 89 percent of the time in the 109th Congress, taking a contrary position on just four votes.

In one instance, she voted for a provision that prevented money from being used to carry out the part of the Patriot Act that permits searches of library circulation records. But she ended up voting for renewing some of the most controversial provisions of the act when it came up for final approval.

Harris also sided with most of her colleagues from South Florida in voting against a GOP immigration proposal to eliminate the visa lottery program.

However, she voted last month for controversial House immigration legislation that includes enlisting military and local law enforcement help in stopping illegal aliens, building a fence along the U.S. border with Mexico and requiring employers to check their employees' status.

Harris, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, noted the legislation includes two of her suggestions: one that directs the Department of Homeland Security to report its progress in tracking Central American gangs attempting to cross the border and another that sets up a border security advisory committee.

Despite her reputation as a foil for Democrats, Harris and Rep. Robert Wexler, a Boca Raton Democrat who bashed her during the 2000 election, jointly assailed a recommendation by the president's tax-reform panel to repeal the current tax deduction on mortgage interest.

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