U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson: "Kendrick is surging"

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: WTSP

Tallahassee, Florida -- Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is predicting independent candidate Charlie Crist will fade in the closing days of the race for Florida's open Senate seat and Democrat Kendrick Meek will close the gap on Republican Marco Rubio.

Sen. Nelson says he sees the campaign of Kendrick Meek surging following strong performances in recent debates.

Nelson dismisses the idea, pushed by some prominent Democrats, that Meek should drop out of the race to give Crist a better chance of defeating Rubio.

"Absolutely not, because I think Kendrick is surging and I think this is going to end up being a race between Kendrick and Marco."

Read more: http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=152028&catid=19

[EFerrari]

1. It's like they want to lose. n/t

[young but wise]

2. I know I'm voting for Meek.

Guaranteed vote for the Democratic agenda in the senate.

[Freddie Stubbs]

3. I already did

I sent in my absentee ballot yesterday.

[Ken Burch]

6. Thanks, Freddie.

We disagree on a lot of things, but thanks for this one.

[ngant17]

10. I also voted absentee for Meek

although on hindsight, I think I might have switched to Crist just to bolster the votes against Rubio.

I think Rubio will be just another Mel Martinez, too inexperienced to help the Tea Party agenda in Florida. But Repugs are everywhere here these days. Like an infestation of cockroaches.

[ChiciB1]

15. Where's Ovieto? I've Lived In Florida Since 1971 & I've Never Heard

of the place. I "could" look it up, but YOU would know I'm sure.

Yep, perhaps you should have done what you said, many have. Cockroaches, more like a HYDRA these days! When I moved here it was a tad more Democratic. Seems like Reuben Askew was the Governor then. There was ONE Repuke Governor that I don't think even THEY liked... Paula Hawkins! I need to research what happened to her.

[polichick]

4. Unfortunately, the Dem vote is being split between Meek and Crist...

...which is great for Rubio.

[flamingdem]

5. That's not what most polls are saying nt

[lamp_shade]

7. I've been phone banking all week and I'd say about a third of the dems I've spoken

to either have already or plan to vote for Crist. This is just FYI.

[ChiciB1]

14. I'd Say What You're Hearing Is VERY TRUE! I Myself Know Many Democrats

who have already voted for Crist and others who are planning to. Not to mention the Independents I've talked to. Now, I'm not talking about hundreds of people, but enough that I see a trend of some kind.

It's kind of a "pick your poison" thing down here. Not only that I have heard NOTHING from Meek, not one call, had one piece of advertisement since the beginning of his campaign and see NO signs along the road for him.

Also, Nelson isn't exactly my cup of tea either. Very DLC, and I can see where he and Meek get along. Meek is to the right of me, so given that Crist, even with "bad stuff" has actually governed more moderately than I thought he would. Each candidate running has some "bad" stuff that can't be defended, including Meek. I'm sure we ALL know that almost to a person, EVERY candidate tells us what they think we want to hear simply to get elected! And that includes the POTUS et al. I think the saying "he was for it before he was against it" became quite famous when John Kerry ran for President. Or maybe ALL politicians are liars, but not ALL liars are politicians. There are any number of cutesy quotes that could be mentioned right now.

Still I don't know how Crist plans to vote or who he will caucus with, but it's ANYBODY BUT RUBIO! And Meek doesn't have enough time, nor do I think support to catch either one.

Many of us think Meek is a "blue dog" anyway, so since Meek has never polled above the 3rd spot, it's pretty late in the game for Meek.

My WISH is that RUBIO loses, but I sure wouldn't bet money on it. What I do wonder and I've asked this question before, when polling do they poll people with cell phones? I just got a call from the Crist campaign about an hour ago, but that's my land line. So the Crist campaigned has called here several times and I have NEVER received a call from the Meek campaign. I AM a registered Democrat in this county even though I've been thinking of going NPA. It don't think it matters if I change officially or not, it only matter WHO I vote for. And none of my family has gotten any calls either.

One more thing. Even though I've received calls from the Crist campaign I didn't tell them that I was voting for him, so the polls may not be completely accurate.

Just sayin'

[rocktivity]

17. I don't think the Chamber of Commerce issue is helping either Crist or Rubio

and today we find out that two Supreme Court Justices sat in on Koch Brothers strategy sessions...

:evilgrin:
rocktivity

[DonCoquixote]

18. did you think

the reason you heard nothing from Meek is because the florida democratic party got behind Crist so they could feed Alex Sink instead? And if you think Meek is a Blue Dog, last I checked he did not "go drill baby drill" with Sarah Palin. Crist is was, and will be, a GOP.

[ChiciB1]

19. As I Stated... NOT ONE Of The Three Candidates Running Here In Florida Have

clean hands. Whether ALL the money went to Sink or not is indicative of just how ineffective Karen Thurman and the Democratic Party here has been for a long time. And yet, even Sink isn't running away from Scott, who is particularly disgusting. She's certainly having a hard time trying to beat him.

It must be SO easy for people out of this state to understand what it means to TRY to keep Rubio OUT! He's been Jebby's "boy" from the get go, and even though some say Crist is a great pal of Jebby's I seriously DOUBT it. Jebby and his henchmen seemed to have been VERY instrumental in finding a candidate that they felt had the looks and enough knowledge to fool many many citizens of this state. The mere fact that Rubio doesn't mention the Tea Party anymore is because they KNOW that it would hurt him and his image.

RUBIO early on embraced Palin AND the Tea-Baggers, but of late he says NOTHING about them. Had THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY here put MORE effort into their choice of who they wanted to run against Rubio, many Floridians wouldn't be facing this awful, awful situation. Meek isn't well known here on my side of the state and The Democratic Party OBVIOUSLY hasn't done enough to promote their own pick.

Say what you will about Crist, but having been part of the Repuke coalition and one of their own, he was basically pushed out by Jebby and his cohorts. Deciding to run as an Independent was probably an immensely difficult decision. I'm sure, knowing about the "inner" workings of what was once his Party showed that he was unwilling to back down. Most here KNOW who is behind RUBIO'S rise and too many Democrats saw that Meek never got out of THIRD place. Watching polls, and they could be off a bit, he has never polled over the 20's. And this isn't something that JUST happened recently, it's been that way from the beginning!

So blame who you want, but there are a lot of Democrats who feel we not only got manipulated by Jebby, but also by our very own Democratic Party here in Florida.

I no longer attend meetings here because they basically "shunned" me because my "views" were more to the left and I was looked upon as being out of the mainstream. And THAT mainstream meant that I would be willing to support and be happy with a "blue dog" agenda. There MAY be some districts that are more Democratic, but NOT THIS one. Making some of us out to be traitors may make you feel better, but so many of us simply want to STOP RUBIO! I've seen people here saying that it's only the right wing moderates of the Democratic Party who will vote for Crist, but I can tell you sincerely that I'm NO moderate. I don't dislike Meek, I just feel a better candidate was needed. ESPECIALLY when the state party leaders surely must have known how RUBIO was being marketed.

In the end, we will probably still have to deal with him, but behind the scenes too many of us know that Jebby is pulling the strings.

IT STINKS because I for one am SICK of the Bushies! I can't just get up a move out of this state so once again I'm faced with the likes of a Bush puppet! And I personally think that getting a win for Rubio is a big stepping stone for Jebby and his wish to be POTUS. It was HE that was supposed to be the golden boy, but Chiles beat him so we got THE IDIOT. However, I don't think Jebby has stopped thinking that he can go ALL THE WAY!

YES, FEAR SELLS.

[Sancho]

8. Sorry Charlie...this is a mess. Too bad if Rubio wins with fewest votes.

The vote is spilt. Nelson is blowing smoke.

[No Elephants]

9. Have Dems heard Crist lately? It's deja vu Lamont (Meek) v. LIEberman (Crist) all over again.

[bc3000]

11. Thanks, Bill, for that opinion that has absolutely no basis in fact.

You can go back to obstructing democratic policy now.

[bc3000]

12. It's too late for Meek to drop out now anyway.

Let's concentrate on races where there's a chance of a democrat defeating insane tea partiers, like Ron Klein vs. Allen West in Florida's 22nd.

[Dr.Phool]

13. No, but he did close his Tampa office this week.

[Unvanguard]

16. The party line on this one is simply dead wrong.

Meek has never been above 25 points in the polls; right now he's hovering in the very low twenties. Crist has been moving into the low thirties, and Rubio has about 40-45%.

Meek is still a third-place candidate. There is less than two weeks left into the election. He is not going to recover. It is unlikely that Crist will win either, but he's a better bet than Meek, especially if Democrats finally abandon a lost cause.