Kendrick Meek did not speak to Clinton about dropping out, he says tonight

[sabrina 1]

Meek held a press conference tonight

Meek Calls Report Inaccurate At Best

In a hastily called news confernence tonight, Democratic candidate Kendrick Meek denied reports that he had conversations with his mentor and political ally, former President Bill Clinton, about dropping out of the U.S. Senate race.

"I am running. The press report was inaccurate at best," Meek said, saying he'll be at the finish line with opponents Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio. "I think there are some people that would like to fuel rumors,"

He will not be dropping out, he says. Meek blames Crist for spreading the rumor. Clinton says they talked, but there seems to be a lot of confusion about what they talked about and where these talks took place:

Senate race turns into political theater with Clinton, Meek, Crist and Rubio



Bill Clinton joins Kendrick Meek at a campaign stop at USF St. Petersburg on Oct. 19. An aide says the former president urged Meek to drop out of the race. Meek says he’s staying in.

MIAMI — Florida's U.S. Senate race turned into late-night political theater, as Democratic Senate candidate Kendrick Meek scrambled at his Miami Gardens campaign office Thursday to quash reports that his mentor and most important political ally, former President Bill Clinton, urged him last week to quit the race.

Meek and Gov. Charlie Crist are currently splitting the Democratic vote, allowing Republican nominee Marco Rubio to surge ahead and potentially help his party take control of the U.S. Senate.

Crist explains where he heard the rumor:

Crist, a former Republican running as an independent, has been trying to squeeze Meek out of the race for weeks. He told Keith Olbermann of MSNBC Thursday night that he doesn't expect Meek to quit. Asked how he knew about the conversation between Meek and Clinton, Crist said, "Because I had numerous phone calls with people very close to President Clinton. It's true."

The Meek campaign fervently denied that he had considered leaving the race. Politico first reported that Meek and Clinton spoke in Jacksonville, but Meek campaign manager Abe Dyk said they were never together in that city last week. Clinton and Meek campaigned together Tuesday in St. Petersburg and Wednesday in Orlando. Politico later corrected its report to remove the Jacksonville reference.

This is what Clinton had to say:

Clinton told CNN's Susan Candiotti Thursday: "He's trying to decide what to do, and I talked to him and I told him that — we went through everything, we talked about it a couple times — I said in the end you know you have to do what you thought was right. I think in terms of what I said to him and what he said to me, since he's my friend and he's the candidate and he wanted us to talk as we always have, I have to let him say whatever he wants to say about our conversation. It would be wrong for me to discuss it."

If Clinton was telling people that Meek was quitting, then why was he helping him to campaign? As late as yesterday? According to this article, Clinton has been working very hard to get Meek elected.

Clinton's advice to his close pal showed just how far the Democratic political establishment is willing to go to try to keep the U.S. Senate in Democratic hands. Meek and Clinton bonded in the 1992 presidential campaign, when Meek was a Florida state trooper providing security for the visiting governor from Arkansas. In 2008, the black congressman and son of a civil rights leader, former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, endorsed Clinton's wife, Hillary Clinton, over Barack Obama.

Clinton headlined 11 fundraisers for Meek — an astounding number — and three back to back rallies in South Florida before the primary and two more events last week.

It sounds like they panicked when they saw Meeks' latest poll numbers. The article says the story came out right after those poll numbers were released. So did someone call Clinton and tell him to stop campaigning and try to get Meek to withdraw? It's possible, and it's possible that Clinton simply said 'well we did talk about that' etc. and it got blown out of proportion.

At least Meek is now getting some media attention.

[sabrina 1]

1. It's very difficult to believe that Clinton would betray Meek

by spreading a rumor he would drop out. Reading about their friendship, (Clinton has said he 'loves Kendrick Meek), I think it's very unlikely. They met when Meek was a state trooper and assigned to protect Clinton in Florida on one of his viists there in 1992.

Clinton-Meek political friendship spans nearly 2 decades

A year later, Clinton, now president, was in Miami for an event at a hotel, and Meek, still a state trooper, was again part of Clinton's security detail. As the two were walking, the president turned around to Meek and made a comment along the lines of "We're a long ways away from Suwanee Swifty," said Adam Sharon, Meek's campaign communications director.
"I think that really just stood out for him as being a remarkable memory -- that President Clinton in all that he had gone through that year to become president -- remembers a moment in time from a year prior with Kendrick, who was a state trooper at the time," Sharon said.

I think this whole thing has been blown way out of proportion in order to force Meek out of the race. Looks like Clinton did talk to him, the way friends talk.