Subject: Kendrick Meek

• I Want To Gradulate Corrine Brown On Her Possible Senate Bid

  Rep. Corrine Brown strikes me as a relatively fearless politician. Which is why it's not out of character that she's thrown her hat in as a possible candidate for the Democratic nomination for Florida's open senate seat, even if it means challenging front runner, family friend, and colleague Rep. Kendrick Meek. A poll she commissioned says she would have about equal name recognition, and support across the state as Meek. She expects to decide in the next six months.The p

  June 3, 2009

• Looking Forward to 2010

  November 5, 2008

• Fantasy 2010 Dem Lineup

  The folks at Fla Politics, the site that proudly boasts it's the only Florida blog on the Daily Kos blogroll, have come up with their dream Democratic candidates they'd like to see comically lose run for statewide office in 2010. We think if the state Democrats pull it together, they could make a decent showing, especially if they repeatedly hit the Republicans over the head with the hammer of Florida's worse-than-average economic woes. They've come up with a list of names that includes Joe Ga

  December 16, 2008

• Kendrick Meek Interested in Senate Seat

  We've been criticizing ol' Jebby Bush for positioning his possible run for Senate as an end to the problems of the GOP, and not the end to the problems of America and Florida. Well, along comes Broward Congressman Kendrick Meek, who told the AP that indeed he is considering running for the Senate seat in 2010, and says exactly what we want to hear. "I don't think Floridians are looking for that. They're looking for a U.S. senator to help them with their everyday lives," Meek said. "I wouldn't

  December 30, 2008

• The Perfect Resumé for a Florida Senate Seat

  Political math god Nate Silver put together a handy pie chart showing that the career stop for a majority of current U.S. senators is a U.S. House seat. Good news for Kendrick Meek, Connie Mack IV, and the handful of other representatives who might be angling for the seat, but don't expect to see a Meek vs. Mack matchup anytime soon. Looking back on our senators of the past 50 years, which comes out to a nice even number of ten individuals, we found only three have come directly from U.S. H

  January 13, 2009

• Senate 2010: Kendrick Gets in Quick, Sink Still Has to Think

  Miami boy Kendrick Meek became the first official announced candidate for the 2010 Senate race, sure to be one of the most dramatic in the nation. As expected, he announced it this morning, and used much of the same "This is about Florida" rhetoric we commented about earlier. He's not taking things lightly, either -- he's already enlisted Barack Obama's deputy national campaign manager, Steve Hildebrand, to run his campaign. Meanwhile, CFO Alex Sink is still mulling over a possible run. As th

  January 13, 2009

• Congressmen Bore the Hell out of Us on YouTube, Vote Spaghetti Cat in '10!

  It's not that people don't want to watch Mario Diaz-Balart videos on YouTube. This video of him experiencing some sort of Sarah Palin-induced seizuregasm at a John McCain rally has more than 35,000 views (although over half of those were from me). It's just that people don't want to watch Mario Diaz-Balart-approved Mario Diaz-Balart videos on YouTube. Today, Congress officially unleashed on the world HouseHub and SenateHub as a quick way to find viral video propaganda from your favorite congr

  January 13, 2009

• With Sink's Senate Hopes down the Drain, Gelber Gears Up

  Alex Sink's decision not to enter the Senate fray was big news, but not all that shocking. We wrote yesterday it seemed she was much more keen on staying in Tallahassee, possibly running for governor in either 2010 or 2014. What is shocking is that now both sides of the field are more or less wide open (Charlie Crist put a bit of a damper on talks that he might run.) So sensing an opportunity, Democrat state Sen. Dan Gelber, who represents Miami Beach, is all but officially in the running. Lik

  January 16, 2009

• Crist Is as Popular as Obama, No One Knows Any of These Senate Wannabes

  Charlie Crist is still enjoying a quite enviable approval rating, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll, with 65 percent of Floridians approving of his job performance. That's about the percentage President Obama is getting in nationwide polls. Meanwhile, of all the names being thrown around for the 2010 Senate election, only Bill McCullom has major statewide name recognition. Fifty-four percent of Floridians were able to form an opinion about the attorney general. Compare that to

  January 21, 2009

• Tampa Mayor Might Jump into Senate Race

  With 22 months left before the election, there are still plenty of surprises left in this Senate race. The latest of which is that Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio told the Tampa Bay Tribune she's considering running in the Democratic primary:"It was not something I was considering when there was a possibility that Alex Sink might run," Iorio said this morning. "But since she bowed out, I have had people talk to me about it. So I am analyzing it, and that's where I am right now. I have not ruled it out."I

  January 27, 2009

• McCollum or Boyd Won't Be Your Next Senator

  Both sides of the Senate 2010 fray just lost significant rumored candidates. Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum and Democratic Congressmen Allen Boyd have both said they won't seek the open seat. McCollum has sought a Senate seat twice before. He claimed his party's nomination in 2000, but lost to Democrat Bill Nelson. He tried his luck again in 2004, but lost in the primary to Mel Martinez and got called "the new darling of the homosexual extremists" as a parting gift. Instead McCollum w

  January 28, 2009

• News Round Up

  Bill Clinton dropped by Miami on Friday night and helped Kendrick Meek raise $300,000 for his Senate race. [Naked Politics]That thing we posted about the 2014 Governor's race already having front runners is legit. Boy wonder Republican Congressman Adam Putnam announced he'd give up his legislative seat and run for Agriculture Commissioner in 2010. [Ledger]What? A local former priest caught with dirty picture of little boys on his computers? Next you're going to tell me their are Republican polit

  February 2, 2009

• Rod Smith Might Be Considering Losing Another Primary Election

  When it comes to the 2010 Senate election, just about anybody who's nobody is getting in. Rod Smith, a former state Senator of the conservative Democrat variety, made a decent run in the 2006 Gubanotorial primary, but ended up losing to Jim Davis. Along the way though he picked up some key newspaper endorsements (Herald included) and support from Rep. Kendrick Meek. Meek, and Rep. Allen Boyd, broke with the rest of the democratic US House delegation, who all supported their former colleague Davi

  February 4, 2009

• Polls: Charlie Crist Would Win Senate Race 2-to-1

  Floridians can only juggle the names of 4 or 5 state politicians in their heads at a time, and right now the only Democrat in the mix, Bill Nelson, is already in the Senate. So it's not surprising that a new Strategic Vision poll shows Charlie Crist winning pretty much every match-up with any given Republican by a 2-to-1 margin. The best the Democrats can muster is Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio. Charlie only beats her by 28 points (57% to 29%). Dan Gelber, the state Senator from Miami Beach, does relati

  February 12, 2009

• North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns to Run for Senate

  In our very important four-point treatise on netroots campaigning, we predicted "gay candidates will be the hot new netroots cause, just watch," and now, right here in Florida, that theory will be put to the test. North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns will tomorrow officially kick off his campaign to seek the Senate seat being vacated by Mel Martinez.And if Burns has any chance of winning, it's going to come from unbelievably strong netroots and grassroots support. In a Democratic field noted for zer

  February 16, 2009

• Crist Could Be Elected Ms. Florida if He Wanted, but Floridians Like Him as Gov

  Oh, that Charlie Crist -- he's so popular. Quinnipiac, always interested in exactly how popular, finds that Charlie can be pretty much elected to anything he wants. But 41 percent of Floridians prefer he seeks re-election as governor, compared to 22 percent who would like to see him run for Senate. The poll shows he could easily win either. That's the kind of power a 67 percent approval rating gets you. That includes a 66 percent approval rating among Democrats, though it must not have hurt that

  February 18, 2009

• Local Legislatures On Both Sides Get Good Grades on Poverty Issues

  The National Center of Poverty Law put out their annual Poverty Scorecard, and while scrolling through it we started seeing a pattern. Democrats were all getting As and A s, while Republicans were all getting Cs, Ds and Fs. Take our Senators for example: Democrat Bill Nelson got an A , Republican Mel Martinez barely passed with a D. This pattern held up pretty well until we got to South Florida's congressmen. Our entire delegation, regardless of Party identifications, all got As! Kendrick Meek a

  February 19, 2009

• Kevin Burns Has a Campaign Gimmick Too

  With a field for the 2010 Senate Race filled with a bunch of long shot candidates, everyone has to have a gimmick, because, hey, it worked for Walkin' Lawton Chiles and Bob "Work Days" Graham. Dan Gelber promises to complete 100 days of public service and buy up a million Google ads (net roots!). Kendrick Meek's gimmick is that he's a well connected congressman with a strong, moderate/mainstream democratic record and early union support, which isn't much of a gimmick as much as it is politics as

  February 23, 2009

• Senate 2010: Who Is Winning The Netroots So Far?

  Oh, we know, we know, it's so early in the campaign, but with State Senator and US Senate Candidate Dan Gelber's announcement today that he'll Twitter his way through the 60 day legislative session up in Tallahassee, we decided to role out a feature we've been toying with for a while. So new is it that we don't even have some sort of catchy name for it (suggestions in the comments!), but basically we'll be tracking the net roots efforts of the 2010 Senate Candidates -- which at the moment amount

  February 24, 2009

• The Talented Senator Damon? Not If We Draft Judge Judy

  via Wikimedia CommonsThe proposed debate between Matt Damon and eminent conservative windbag Bill Kristol never went down, but that hasn't stemmed the hopes that Damon may be up for a public political showdown. Seems Mark Weaver over at the Florida Progressive Coalition Blog (as pointed out by our juicy brethren) thinks Matt Damon should run for senate. Weaver thinks the "career politicians" like Kendrick Meek and Dan Gelber spew the same "imperial foreign policy platitude" as Republicans, and

  March 3, 2009

• State Sen. Frederica Wilson Hopes To Move Her Hat Collection to DC

  Frederica Wilson and her extensive hat collection have pretty much done everything they can in Tallahassee. The Miami democrat has served in both houses of the State legislature, and now she's made it official that she'll be seeking the congressional seat Rep. Kendrick Meek is leaving behind in his quest for the Senate. As a Senator she's served as the Democratic whip, and the Minority Pro Tempore. And before her Tallahassee adventures, the Opa-Locka native served on the Miami-Dade School Bo

  March 9, 2009

• Meek Outraises Gelber By Over 3-to-1

  Warhol, ok. Both Democratic U.S. Senate candidates announced their fundraising haul for the first quarter of 2009 today. Rep. Kendrick Meek, who benefited from a few fundraising appearances by none other than Bill Clinton, raked in $1.49 million. That's roughly on track with other early, non-incumbent front runners from past election cycles. Meanwhile, his major competition, state Sen. Dan Gelber took in a respectable $400,000. Gelber's advisers were quick to point out that he's been hard

  April 1, 2009

• Hot New Senate Campaign Gimmick Alert: Petitions!

  These dang Florida Democrats can't seem to run for Senate without some sort of campaign gimmick. Lawton Chiles had his walk, Bob Graham had working days, and Dan Gelber is undertaking 100 days of public service. Rep. Kendrick Meek might be leading in fundraising, but he is totally losing in the gimmick department. Usually, candidates for Senate just pay the registration fee and are done with it, but there is an option to collect signatures in order to qualify. But no U.S. Senate candidate in Flo

  April 3, 2009

• Very Big Bucks

  October 5, 1995

• Dear Politicians, Please Exploit Your Family Dogs

  The liberal, elitist media would like you to think that Barack Obama is the first ever dog-owning politician in history. Charles Beauregard "Bo" Hussein Kennedy-Obama (yes, we've made that joke today but we will continue to call him that until the Obama administration produces his birth certificate. Why are you hiding the birth certificate, Obama, why?) is cute and all, but surely there must be other cute, political dogs.

  April 15, 2009

• The Meek Better Look Out

  December 15, 2005

• This Week's Day by Day Picks

  May 29, 2003

• The Untold Story

  November 30, 2000

• Don't Look for the Union Label

  June 22, 2000

• Best Political Gamble

  May 11, 2000

• Empire of the Son

  August 27, 1998

• News Roundup

  Local Father Cutié's special lady pal issued a statement to the press letting everyone know she did not set him up. [CBS4] Miami-Dade teachers have agreed to two unpaid days off in order to help balance the district's budget. [Herald] Ironically, teachers have to pay more to be certified. [CBS4] Miami Gardens Mayor Shirley Gibson is entering the race for Kendrick Meek's house seat. [SFLCN] An accused murderess on trial for taking part in killing her boss, a psychiatrist, and his son exe

  May 20, 2009

• Crist Cruising Competition, McCollum Favored Over Sink

  via azwaldo's flickrPolls are very, very meaningful and exciting. The picture of the 2010 races aren't even in perfect focus yet, but that doesn't mean it's too early for a poll. Mason-Dixon unleashed their first poll post-Crist-for-Senate announcement, and things don't look too good for the Democrats. In the Senate race Charlie Crist (with a 49% favorable rating) crushes his primary competition Marco Rubio 53%-18% amongst likely primary voters. Kendrick Meek leads

  May 20, 2009

• Manny Diaz Endorses Kendrick Meek for Senate

  Rep. Kendrick Meek added another impressive entry to his list of endorsement of US Senate today as City of Miami Mayor, and president of the US Conference of Mayor, Manny Diaz announced his endorsement. The press release came with equal amounts of back patting on the part of both men. "Congressman Kendrick Meek is a leader in Congress who knows that placing unfair financial burdens and unfunded mandates on our cities is a practice that must end. Cities are being asked to do

  June 11, 2009

• McCollum Has Eight-Point Advantage Over Sink; Crist Still on Top

  Last time we checked in on the polling digits, Quinnipiac claimed Democratic CFO Alex Sink had a four-point lead over Republican AG Bill McCollum, but the latest poll from Rasmussen shows quite a different race. Its numbers show McCollum leading Sink 42-34 percent, with 18 percent still undecided. McCollum is beloved by men, polling 51 to Sink's 36 percent. While women are evenly divided. McCollum also leads independent voters 38 to 22 percent. Over in the Senate ra

  June 25, 2009

• Super-Hot Senate Poll Action: No One Likes Corrine Brown

  Mason-Dixon released another Senate poll, and like every single 2010 Florida Senate poll before it, it finds Charlie Crist is far and away the frontrunner. Ninety-seven percent recognize Crist's name, and 49 percent of regular voters find him favorable. Marco Rubio is raising his statewide name recognition: 53 percent of voters recall his name, but only 18 percent find him favorable; 11 percent find him unfavorable. It goes without saying that Crist is still trouncing Rubio.Here's the good new

  June 29, 2009

• News Roundup

  LocalGeorge Novack, Jr., son of the Fontainebleau's original owner and a Ft. Lauderdale convention planner, was found beaten to death in his hotel room in New York City. [USAToday]A North Miami Beach imam is facing deportation, so he's reaching out to Kendrick Meek. [Herald]The express lanes on I95 are not attracting as much traffic as anticipated. [SFBJ]The top 20 money grabber for in state races for the previous quarter. [NakedPolitics]We haven't checked in with Herald columnist Jackie Bueno S

  July 14, 2009

• Yolly Roberson Kicks Off House Bid Against Crowded Field, Including Her Ex-Husband

  With Kendrick Meek resigning to seek a Senate seat, Florida's 17th congressional district will have its first non-Meek representative since 1993. District 17, with a Cook pvi of D 34, is one of the most Democratic leaning districts in the entire nation, so the real race is poised to take place in the Democratic primary. State Sen. Frederica Wilson has already thrown her many, sparkling hats into the ring. Activist Marliene Bastian has officially filed, as have

  July 17, 2009

• Kendrick Meek Opposes Using Federal Funds to Pay for Abortions

  Rep. Kendrick Meek has joined a small group of house Democrats asking that any health-care reforms not lead to federal funding of abortion, according to the Washington Post. The possibility of taxpayer money being used to pay for abortions is becoming a hot-button issue in the health-care reform debate -- one that Republicans might use to completely derail the purpose. Meek joined four other centrist Democrats who sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying they are "increasingly conc

  July 22, 2009

• News Roundup

  Kendrick Meek attacked Charlie Crist (his possible foe in the 2010 Senate race) for not handling stimulus funds in a way best for Florida. [PBPost]Some d-bag was arrested for using his camera phone to take up-skirt videos at Aventura Mall. [NBCMiami]"Don Diego" Montoya, a Colombian drug kingpin, is expected to plead guilty in a Miami courtroom today. [AP]Miguel Diaz has been officially named U.S. ambassador to the Holy See. [Herald]Fancy Miami Beach hotels are having a h

  August 11, 2009

• News Roundup

  An appeals court in Miami today will take up Florida's gay adoption ban. [AP]Michael Beasley's stay in rehab was planned; in fact, he had already been in Houston attending therapy for two weeks beforehand. [Herald]After seeing so many wackos storm Democratic congressman with accusations of death panels and socialism, it's nice, if only for balance, to see some liberals rally for the public option, which is what these folks did at Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's office. [Herald]Speaking of R

  August 26, 2009

• Marco Rubio and Kendrick Meek Simply Do Not Care for This LeMieux Character

  ​Marco Rubio and Kendrick Meek have only a few things in common: They're both running for Senate. They'll both likely face Charlie Crist. They'll both likely lose to him. And now they both don't very much like George LeMieux's status as newly minted senator. Politically, this is just about the only thing you could ever expect them to agree on. Here's Rubio's reaction, in which he calls LeMieux Charlie Crist's BFF: "This is a disappointing appointment for Florida. George LeM

  August 28, 2009

• Is Maurice Ferre About to Mount a Senate Campaign?

  Jonathan Postal​A couple of Democrats have flirted with the idea, but so far no one has stepped up to mount a real challenge against Kendrick Meek in the Senate primary. Now, though, there's buzz that former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre will enter the race next week.Beth Reinhard says Ferre will make an announcement "the modern way" next Wednesday, and dug up a Twitter account (apparently now the first step in setting up a campaign). Funny thing: His avatar is a photo by former New Times photog J

  October 1, 2009

• Rep. Corrine Brown Announces She Won't Run for Senate to the Devastation of Like Five People

  Rep. Corrine "Go Gata!" Brown will not run for the democratic nomination for Senate, after months of teasing that she would. Brown had ruffled her former colleague and close friend Carrie Meek's feathers by entertaining the idea of running against her son Rep. Kendrick Meek.Instead, she announced today she'll run for re-election to her house seat."In these difficult times, I can use my position in the House to do even more to help my constituents," she said.If re-elected, it will be her ninth te

  October 16, 2009

• Poll: Rubio Inching Closer to Crist in Primary, but Can He Beat Meek?

  The big news in the latest Quinnipiac poll is that conservative wonder boy Marco Rubio has cut Charlie Crist's lead in the Republican primary in half. But the poll also has the first theoretical head-to-head matchup of Democrat Kendrick Meek against Rubio in the general election, and Meek wins. I'm sure Rubio supporters are savoring their polling gains, but perhaps not as much as Democrats. In August, 55 percent of registered Republicans favored Crist, while only 26 percent lined up be

  October 21, 2009

• News Roundup

  Here's how The Herald cleaned up Channing Crowder's "They're undefeated, they're probably smelling themselves, rubbing each other's balls, all that shit..." quote: "They're probably smelling themselves, rubbing each other's [back]." Come on, since when is back a proper substitute for balls? [Herald]The funeral service for slain UConn player Jasper Howard has been set for Monday, and his teammates are scheduled to attend. [AP]Meanwhile, threats of violence are being made online to witnesses of th

  October 23, 2009

• News Roundup

  The President of the United States was in town last night, here's what he did:Was greeted by both protesters and supporters... [SoFlTimes]...Including Kendrick Meek, Dan Gelber, Alex Sink and Manny Diaz. [NakedPolitics]Rallied the democratic base at a fundraiser. [Herald]And raised nearly $1.5 million. [FoxNews]The Delano hotel will not give you much of a discount, because they are training you, the hotel consumer, not to expect to pay less even when the economy is good. [Herald]Everyone hates M

  October 27, 2009

• Dems Compliment Charlie Crist on his "Good Hair and Nice Tan," Blast Him on Everything Else

  Charlie Crist is such an upbeat fellow that I'm sure he'll appreciate the fact that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee just sent out an email touting the Gov's silver fox-ish good looks citing his "Good Hair and Nice Tan." He might be a little sad that it comes as part of a compliment sandwich with a whole lot of critical meat stuck between that white bread. The email, part of a series of fundraising messages entitled "The Rant," also notes that Forbes.com posted an article asking

  October 27, 2009

• Kendrick Meek Should Be Worried About Dennis Stackhouse

  Alex Izaguirre​ Congressman Kendrick Meek better keep a close eye on what happens to Dennis Stackhouse, the Boston developer who's been criminally charged on multiple counts of grand theft and organized scheme to defraud. Local law enforcement officials accuse Stackhouse of stealing $942,000 set aside to build a biopharmacutical park and create jobs in Liberty City that never happened. Stackhouse was already facing criminal charges in a seperate investigation that found he illegally reimbursed

  October 29, 2009

• New Daily Kos Poll: Rubio Narrows Crist's GOP Lead Thanks to Birthers, Still Can't Beat Meek in General

  Daily Kos/Research 2000 just released their latest Florida poll, and there are a lot of interesting little poll number factoids to be pulled. Riptide tends to have some smart readers, so we won't recap the entire poll, but instead let's mine some of our favorite nuggets. The Senate Race:Republican Primary: Charlie Crist now only leads Marco Rubio by 10 points!73% of Republicans who think President Obama was born in America would vote for Crist, only 16% would vote for Rubio. These are

  November 19, 2009