Meek floods Florida Senate race with signatures

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With an attention-grabbing finish to his remarkable year-long petition campaign to join the ballot for Florida’s vacant Senate seat, Rep. Kendrick Meek submitted over 145,000 signatures of support gathered from across Florida.

While major party candidates in Florida have always paid the flat $10,000 fee to join the primary ballot, Rep. Meek claims to have spent far more in an effort to expand his support base beyond strongly-Democratic South Florida. By using the unprecedented signature campaign to listen to the unmet needs of Florida’s Republican and undecided voters, Meek hopes to significantly challenge his two likely Republican opponents – Gov. Charlie Crist and former State Speaker of the House Marco Rubio.

WATCH REP. KENDRICK MEEK DISCUSS HIS CAMPAIGN AND COMPETITION ON MSNBC’S DAILY RUNDOWN
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Rep. Meek must gain statewide support as a Democrat while distinguishing himself from both Gov. Crist and State Rep. Rubio, who have already positioned themselves as the elder statesman and reformist challenger as of last Sunday’s heated debate. Meek hopes to increase widespread awareness of his candidacy and Congressional track record, while focusing on the issues that have ravaged Florida like an economic hurricane, such as unemployment and home foreclosures.

Polls are showing that voters are more aware of Rep. Meek as a Senate candidate than last year, but he still lags behind his more vocal, and better-funded, Republican opponents.

It remains to be seen how federal issues such as the economic stimulus bills and health care reform will impact state and local elections, but Rep. Meek echoes Democratic party predictions that voters will take a positive hindsight view on such measures by the November elections.

Although he is a leading member of the Congressional Black Caucus, and represents Florida’s predominantly black and Latino 17th district, Rep. Meek may face tough competition in the black community. Gov. Crist is generally well-regarded for his stance on civil rights issues and bipartisan cooperation with the Obama Administration, and has been colloquially referred to as ‘Florida’s first black governor’.