Florida Senate candidate Kendrick Meek (D) is trailing Charlie Crist (I) and Marco Rubio (R) in election polls.
First Read, NBC’s political analysis team, reported Thursday, “In a roundtable discussion with reporters, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Bob Menendez said that his committee is fully behind Meek.”
Paul Blank — a spokesman for Jeff Greene, who is running opposite Meek in the Democratic primary — told TFI Friday, “If the Democratic establishment wants to back a career politician involved in a major corruption scandal and who is lagging in the polls, they are free to do so. It won’t be the first time.”
According to the latest Quinnipiac University poll, “In the Democratic Senate primary, Jeff Greene is almost as well known as Meek. Asked to rate [Greene], 23 percent of Democrats view [him] favorably, 10 percent unfavorably and 64 percent don’t know enough about him to have an opinion. Meek, by comparison, is viewed favorably by 29 percent; unfavorably by 8 percent and 59 percent don’t have an opinion.”
Meek was elected to the U.S. congress in 2002 after serving in the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate.
“We are committed to Kendrick Meek. We believe that he can win the general election. … I’m focused on having Democrats support Kendrick Meek,” Menendez said, when asked by First Read if the DSCC would object to Democrats or Democratic groups backing Charlie Crist.
When contacted by The Florida Independent about Menendez’s comments, Kendrick Meek campaign spokesman Adam Sharonemailed the following statement: “Kendrick is working hard, putting middle class Florida families first who need a fighter on their side.”
