In all probability, Kendrick Meek will not win the U.S. Senate race in Florida Tuesday night.
After news reports broke Thursday night that President Clinton had asked Meek to drop out of the race – and Meek reportedly agreed -both men then spent Friday disputing those rumors.
With 48 hours before election day, the debacle ultimately has to help one man, independent Senate candidate Charlie Crist (who, according to Meek, is responsible for all of that reporting, since he called Meek directly asking him to drop out recently).
Some analysts think that it may wake up black voters, angry at how the top of the Democratic party was involved in somehow telling their nominee that he should sit out the race and thrown his support for a white former Republican who didn't win any primary election.
We'll know soon enough how that plays out, but nobody will accuse Meek of not working hard in this campaign, especially in its final hours.
Meek announced Saturday afternoon that he will campaign for 24 hours straight, beginning Sunday night in Tampa at a campaign event with the USF College Democrats at 9:00 p.m. at the USF Marshall Student Center Atrium.
Event #2 will be a stop at Mema's Alaskan Tacos in Ybor City at 10:00 p.m. (1724 East 8th Avenue).
It then gets a bit freaky after that. Meek travels across I-4 to meet with Orlando Police Officers at 11:15 p.m., and then starts hitting up public places that actually have people in them in the middle of the night. Then again, it is Halloween, so there actually could be more people out and about than usual for a Sunday night (you can check out that schedule below).
Most interesting is where the 24-hour campaign marathon ends – in Orlando, where none other than Bill Clinton will tell an audience of Florida voters that they should just ignore what his spokesman told Politico and the New York Times last week, that the former President did ask Meek to step down, and that Meek did.
You can call this the former President's "guilt trip" appearance. It will be the 12th campaign event that he has done with Meek since the Miami Democrat declared his candidacy in early 2009. Clinton's first two big fundraisers for Meek last year were critical in coalescing the Democratic party machinery firmly behind him (as were several big union endorsements), chilling off any Democrat from challenging him up until the deadline this past June, when Palml Beach real estate mogul Jeff Greene finally decided to get in the race.
But think about it – Clinton of course has been the Democratic party's MVP this campaign season, tirelessly traveling across the country to raise funds and hopes for all sorts of candidates in this very challenging environment. And he opts for his final campaign appearance for a candidate who has no chance of winning the election (unless every poll ever taken in this race has been off base).
Whomever leaked the story last week on these conversations has to realize that it made Meek look horrible, surely the last thing that Clinton intended. Even though he denied saying that Meek had agreed to quit, he did say that he would let Kendrick explain how the conversation ended. And, unfortunately for all concerned, his spokesman, Matt McKenna, blabbed to various media organizations that in fact, Meek had agreed to step down, after consulting with Clinton.
And yes, conservatives have seized on the idea that the highest levels of the Democratic party were involved in negotiations with the only black running for a U.S. Senate seat this year, and told him to step aside for the white independent. It's called damage control, and President Clinton is doing his part in controlling what he's responsible for in appearing with Meek Monday night.
There was considerable anger expressed Saturday morning on WWBA 820 AM in Tampa on Michelle B. Patty's radio show, in particular coming from the guest host, former Tampa City Councilman Frank Reddick, who said if anyone should quit the race, it should be Charlie Crist. On WMNF's Sunday Forum, host Otis Anthony said it was never really viable that the state of Florida would elect a black man to the U.S. Senate.
Continue reading to see Kendrick Meek's 24 hour schedule of events, beginning tonight at 9 p.m. at USF.
This article appears in Oct 28 – Nov 3, 2010.