Meek on Dropout Rumors: I'm Not Going Anywhere
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}U.S. Senate candidate Kendrick Meek makes a point in the debate with challengers Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist, at the studios of WFTV in Orlando, Fla., Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010. (AP Photo/Joe Burbank, Pool)
MIAMI-Rumors swirled Thursday, in part, due to a Wall Street Journal online posting that Democrat Kendrick Meek may be dropping out of the Senate race in Florida because of low poll numbers -- and in a shocking move, would support independent candidate Charlie Crist.
Last night, the Meek campaign sent out a blunt news release that said Meek had "laughed off" the rumor, calling it "ridiculous."
"I'm not going anywhere except the United States Senate," Meek said in the statement directed to Fox News parent company News Corp. and sister, the Wall Street Journal.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}There is no love lost between Meek and Crist. Indeed, part of Crist's strategy is to peel off Democratic voters to move ahead of both Meek and Republican Marco Rubio. Meek trails both candidates in recent polls.
Meek's acrimony towards Crist's campaign was further evident yesterday when he rejected a co-endorsement by The Sierra Club. In a rare move, the environmentalist organization, that has traditionally backed Democrats, was endorsing not only Meek, but Crist.
"I cannot in good conscience accept an endorsement from an organization that would stand with a governor who has consistently put developers, oil companies and the special interests first" Meek said in a statement." It's an insult to Florida's environmental community and Sierra Club members that the organization would endorse a governor who, in the organization's own words, 'sold out to developers' by 'failing to veto even the worst bills.'"