TALLAHASSEE - A Circuit Court judge summed up the legal quandary of Katherine Harris' congressional campaign Thursday with one withering question:

''She's not a crook, she's negligent?'' Judge P. Kevin Davey asked the attorney for the former Florida secretary of state during an 80-minute hearing on the challenge to her qualification papers filed by her opponent in the Republican primary, John C. Hill.

''Those are your words, your honor, not mine,'' replied Donna Blanton, who maintained that her client made a harmless mistake by not resigning from the Florida Cabinet before entering the race in the Sarasota-area 13th Congressional District.

Hugh Ferrell, Hill's lawyer, conceded that Harris did not commit a crime by filing her qualifying papers without resigning and notifying Gov. Jeb Bush that he needed to appoint a new secretary of state. But Ferrell said Harris used the advantages of her office for about two weeks, supervising state employees and collecting her Cabinet salary, and meeting Korean officials in Washington on a culture and trade-promotion mission.

''That doesn't look like she's resigned; it looks just the opposite,'' said Ferrell. ``You can take back the pay, but you can't take back the improper using of prestige of the office.''

Harris filed her congressional qualifying papers on July 15, the same day Hill submitted his own voter petitions to get on the ballot for the Sept. 10 GOP primary. But Harris did not submit her letter of resignation until Aug. 1.

To avoid the cost of reprinting ballots without Harris' name, and to prevent massive confusion at the polls, Ferrell told Davey he could simply order that any votes for Harris not be counted. Davey gave no indication how he would rule.

States cannot change the rules for seeking congressional offices, so the Legislature in 1983 decreed that anyone who does not resign when filing will be legally deemed to have done so immediately upon signing up for the new race. Blanton said this meant Harris -- whether she knew it or not -- actually resigned her state post when she qualified.

But Davey noted that the office of Harris, the state's chief elections officer, mailed packets of qualifying papers to thousands of candidates prior to the late-July qualifying deadlines. The forms included a notice that Florida law requires officials to resign from one job before running for another.

'The irony is not lost on the court that she sent out a bunch of notices that said, `You've got to resign if you're a public officeholder,' and didn't resign herself,'' said Davey, holding up the form he had signed himself when qualifying for his judgeship. ``She didn't read those, I guess.''

Davey indicated he would rule Hill's suit today. With the primary 10 days away, there would be little time for appeal -- a factor that Harris' supporters consider a stealthy method for the less-known Hill to upset the secretary of state, who became nationally famous in the recount fiasco after the 2000 presidential election.

''What he's asking for is for you to essentially declare his client the winner of the Republican primary,'' Blanton said of Ferrell's arguments.

The new congressional district is heavily Republican. Four Democrats are running, but Harris is considered the front-runner.

After the hearing, Hill predicted he would defeat Harris in the primary, and said he did not file the suit to trip her up. But he said that if Harris is the GOP nominee, a Democrat could file the same sort of lawsuit before the general election and possibly knock her off the ballot -- giving the congressional seat to the Democratic nominee.

''Right now, only Republicans could bring this action because they are the electors in the primary,'' said Hill.