It's the day after Labor Day, time as Rick Scott would say to "get back to work."
In the case of the U.S. Senate race, both Charlie Crist and Kendrick Meek are getting busy (Marco Rubio will join them on the trail, but he is still laying low after the sad news of his father's passing this weekend).
In his new ad, Crist pounds on the idea that he spoke about yesterday in Hillsborough County – that by being an independent (not his original choice, you might remember), he'll rise above the fray of partisan bickering and be a Senator that all Floridians can rally around to fix our problems.
Meanwhile, Kendrick Meek is in New York today, where Bill Clinton will be hosting (another) fundraiser for him. Meek appeared earlier this morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe program, where it looks like even the Miami Congressman is playing coy about wanting President Obama to campaign for him (Yeah, he wanted Obama in a tough primary battle with Jeff Greene, but now that he's looking for voters of all persuasions, it's apparently a different story).
"If the President wants to come to Florida, he's welcome to come to Florida," Meek replied evenly when asked by Mike Barnicle if Obama would be a help or a hindrance to his campaign. He followed up by saying that he did recently enjoy a sandwich with Obama – during the primary campaign.
Check out Kendrick Meek's first ad for the general election cycle, which is a good one.
MSNBC Political analyst Mark Halperin asked Meek how does he convince some Democrats that they should back him and not Crist, who looks so much better via the polls and has been campaigning as if he would caucus with the Democrats if elected in November? Meek said, "The Governor's all over the board with his commitments. You can't trust his word. He was the chair of the Republican party at the beginning of this year. So that goes to show you where he is….people are going to start to come home as it relates to voting for me and standing with me because they know where I'm going to stand…"
This article appears in Sep 2-8, 2010.