Let me start with a little story to make a point about the purpose of this first segment

of the show, which I hope you will take to heart. I'll make it quick. So, do you know the name

Sandra Mortham? Probably not. Especially if you're not from Florida.

Do you know the name Karen Gievers, an attorney from Miami? Probably not, unless you're one of our

Florida listeners, including our folks in, say, Pensacola.

What are our call letters in Pensacola? I just lost my sheet. Either way, you don't know their name.

But I'll bet you you do know the name Catherine Harris.

If you've been following the process for a while, political process, you know the name

Catherine Harris because in 1998 she ran for and was elected to the position of Secretary of State

in Florida.

Not something that gets a lot of attention.

But when she was elected and took office January 5, 1999,

the course of history would change dramatically.

Had she lost that election,

our history of the last 23 years would be,

22 years would be very, very different.

And the reason is,

because in a down-ballot race that most people don't pay much attention to, certainly not the rest of the country, and very few people in Florida,

Catherine Harris managed to defeat Karen Gvers, a Democrat from Miami,

and be the last person to be elected Secretary of State in Florida.

After that, a constitutional change occurred,

where the Secretary of State would now be appointed by the governor, as it is in Texas.

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