Meek within 9 points of Crist

[golfguru]

Source: Rassmussen

Florida Senate - Rubio vs. Meek vs. Crist

Read more: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2010/senate/fl/florida_senate_rubio_vs_meek_vs_crist-1456.html

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Meek is catching up with Crist according to latest Rassmussen poll in FL.
All democrats in Florida should stop wasting their vote on Crist. Because
doing so will split the vote and help Rubio.

[WhiteTara]

1. That was their idea. Repukes need to be shunned

no matter their current stripe.

[Chipper Chat]

2. I don't see Rubio getting more than 29% - the classic conservative pie-slice.

Give Crist 30% - the rest of the GOP + some racist white dems.
Then Meek gets the rest - 41% - if, as you say, the democratic voters stand firm.
YEA!

[WhiteTara]

16. we could love that! n/t

[The Northerner]

3. Aren't most progressives distrustful of Rasmussen?

[ProgressiveEconomist]

4. Other pollsters find plenty of room for Meek's support to grow, according to LINK

at huffingtonpost:

From http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/26/meek-will-likely-gain-but_n_696088.html :

"...hopeful signs for Meek: Quinnipiac finds that nearly half of the Crist Democrats (45%) say they haven't heard enough about Meek to rate him, and only 20% report an unfavorable rating. Quinnipiac finds that half of the Crist Democrats are self-described liberals (46%), and Ipsos finds 36% "strongly" identify with the Democratic party. Quinnipiac finds that nearly a quarter (23%) are African American.

So collectively these results suggest that Meek has much room to grow, and that "political gravity" is poised to work in his favor. On the other hand, they also suggest that some Democrats will stick with Crist no matter what. What is Crist's floor of support among Democrats? We will have to wait and see.

One thing is certain: Crist's independent candidacy will make voter decisions more complicated than in other races and, for that reason, potentially far more volatile. Voter preferences could shift, and fast, at any point this fall (including the final week). As such, this is a race worth watching."

[ProgressiveEconomist]

5. 'Only real Democrat; Crist=Rubio'--Meek's best campaign strategy seems clear. But what

will be Crist's and Rubio's strategies?

How will Crist go after Meek? Crist's support among Democrats is twice his support among Republicans, according to the link in post #4. Will Crist even bother to attack Rubio?

And what will be Rubio's campaign strategy? He doesn't seem to have many potential votes among either current Meek or current Crist supporters.

[BootinUp]

6. Meek is going to be on a couple of national Sunday news shows today

should help him get up even higher.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9036703

[Chipper Chat]

18. If he's anything like his mother Meek has the potential to be a fighter.

Here is a snippet from 'Women In Congress' about his mother, Congresswoman Carrie Meek, where she unloads on Mr Powerful Newt Gingrich on the floor in 1995:

On issues of national scope, Meek developed a cooperative and congenial style punctuated with partisan episodes. For instance, she was able to work with Republicans to change cigarette label warnings, to reflect the fact that a higher number of African Americans suffer from several smoking-related diseases. She also worked with Republican Anne Northup of Kentucky to increase funding for lupus disease research and to provide federal grants for college students with poor reading skills due to learning disabilities.5 But, in early 1995, amid the controversy surrounding Speaker Newt Gingrich’s $4.5 million book advance, Meek denounced him on the House Floor. “If anything, now, how much the Speaker earns has grown much more dependent upon how hard his publishing house hawks his book,” Meek said. “Which leads me to the question of exactly who does this Speaker really work for.… Is it the American people or his New York publishing house?” Republicans shouted Meek down and struck her remarks from the Congressional Record.6 She also charged that Republicans were balancing the budget on the backs of America’s working poor, elderly, and infirm by gutting the welfare system. “The spending cuts that the House approved today fall mainly on the weakest members of our society, on the sick and on the elderly,” she said in June 1997. “Tomorrow we will be voting on tax cuts that mainly favor the wealthy.… Today, the House voted to rob from the poor so that tomorrow the majority can help the rich.”7

[Flying Squirrel]

7. Meek shall inherit the earth. So sayeth Crist.

:P

[elleng]

8. !!!

;-)

[activa8tr]

11. That was pretty darn clever ! A good morning chuckle n/t

[robertpaulsen]

39. I thought of a similar quip when I saw the headline, but yours is funnier!

:thumbsup:

[Honeycombe8]

9. I don't live in FL. But if I did, I'd have to vote for Crist. That Meek guy...

saw him on TV...he's very young, acts and speaks passively (like his name), and doesn't have the experience that Crist has. Crist is very popular in Florida and is a moderate.

I think that's why the Dems couldn't find a stronger candidate. No one wants to run against the popular Crist and the tea party bagger Rubio, who has a passionate following (barf).

[WatchWhatISay]

10. Not in Florida either, but I got the exact opposite impression from watching the show.

Crist was evasive, wouldn't answer any of the questions. Before watching I thought Crist might be more electable, but he seems to stand for nothing.

[golfguru]

19. Yes, Crist comes across as the most unreliable person

Crist would sell his mother for the keys to the executive
rest room.

[Seminol3]

25. Correction:

Crist stands for Crist, always has, and if his withdrawal from the GOP primary suggests anything, he always will.
This election is about his ego at this point.

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. If Crist were popular he wouldn't have skiddaddled from the GOP

Crist's group fleeced the GOP. That's why they had to high-tail it. Money went into campaigns and lavish lifestyles. Now you're going to give him an opportunity to do it to the Democrats.

[wmbrew0206]

36. Crist was popular with the GOP until he embraced Obama and the stimulus

Crist is all about Crist and when he saw how popular Obama was after the election and how he won Florida, Crist tried to hop on board. The only problem was that doing that pissed of the rethugs something awful. Rubio saw an opportunity and ran to the right of Crist and forced him out of the GOP primary.

Crist is still popular with a lot of the Florida population but not a lot of rethugs. He is pretty much a moderate, since jumping ship, he has won state wide elections before and gets a lot of free media from being Governor. Those are all very solid reasons for left leaning independents and some conservative democrats, ala Allen Boyd (there are a lot of them in northern and central Florida) to vote for Crist over Meek.

[The Backlash Cometh]

41. That's so not true about Crist going to Obama BEFORE they lost interest in Crist.

Look up Jim Greer. The GOP was fleeced by Greer and his cronies, and they gave heavily to Crist's campaign. The conservative Republicans used it as a wedge to get more control of Florida and Crist was just not conservative enough for them. THAT's when Crist began to look for allies. He knew the conservative Republicans would follow the money to trail. They would have cleared out the old guard GOP politicians, like dirty boss hog lawyers, and set up their own Tea Bagger politicians.

Look, they're all bad. The only way you're going to clean them out is by taking out their power base. When Meeks gets in, cut off his contacts with Washington, and let him start clean.

[wmbrew0206]

43. I think you need to re-look at the timeline

Jim Greer's downfall was bad for Crist, but as a Rethug, it wasn't that big of a deal. The Rethugs would have stuck by the party's nominee regardless of their ties to Greer and claimed that they had no knowledge of Greer's illegal activities.

Crist downfall with the rethug's started when he agreed to accept stimulus funds and then embraced Obama when he came to Florida. That was the beginning of the end, and Greer's scandal just made Crist's problems worse. If Rubio had not entered the race, then Crist would have been able to weather the storm.

Crist will try and blame Greer on the rethugs and the rethugs will blame Greer on Crist. Either way, it will not impact the race all that much.

[The Backlash Cometh]

46. You're underplaying the Greer situation.

There is a money trail. If the GOP decides not to follow that money trail it's because it's a can of worms and will expose a network which someday will be working for them.

[sandnsea]

14. From Texas

And then folks wonder why their politicians are afraid of their own shadows. If you don't support Democrats, don't be angry when they go to DC and act like moderate Republicans.

[davidinalameda]

12. one poll is he withing 9 points

in all the others, he's trailing by double digits

[sandnsea]

15. And WV. Do you support Crist? n/t

[davidinalameda]

17. I don't vote in Florida

who I support doesn't matter

[sandnsea]

21. Of course it matters

It matters when people attack Democrats for not being progressive and then turn around and choose the moderate as more electable.

[davidinalameda]

23. I am a moderate

[golfguru]

20. The Rasmussen poll is newer and generally more accurate

because he polls likely voters only.

[davidinalameda]

24. so 9 points behind the 2nd place guy is good?

like IG said, it's still 3rd place

[golfguru]

26. Still over 2 months to go and the trend is up

that is all good. Crist can only go down from here.
He is losing republican votes faster than snow melting in july.
Voters tend to gravitate to their party in the voting booth.
Independents seldom do well unless the opposition party has
no viable candidate as happened in CT with Lieberman. There the
republicans voted in big numbers for Lieberman.

In Florida, Crist will never get more than 50% of democratic votes
under the best scenario. African-Americans will break for Meek in
large numbers. The best chance of beating Rubio is to concentrate
all democratic votes behind Meek, and not split them with Crist.

[brooklynite]

28. No it's not...

One poll (with Meek still in third place) is not a trend. Both Pollster (which I trust more) and RCP's lines over time show Meek dropping or stagnant.

I'd like to be more enthusiastic about this race, but my wife met Meek a few months ago and was "not inspired". I haven't seen any developments to change that perception.

[Towlie]

29. I don't know about you but I probably won't be voting FOR anyone, just AGAINST Rubio.

For me it'll be a last-minute decision based on analysis of the poll numbers and the most effective use of my vote. I like Kendrick Meek, of course, but the concept of voting breaks when there are more than two choices, and a vote against the worst of three choices is just as valid as a vote for the best. It's just a question of which will be more effective.

The system sucks. Why don't we fix it?

[KaryninMiami]

30. That's how a lot of us feel. We don't like either candidate--

Meek and his family here in Florida are not loved by all Democrats- in fact, it's quite the opposite. But he will caucaus with the Dems and will support Obama's agenda (he will OWE Obama big time for the support he gave for the primary, along with the Clintons.). But he's not a strong candidate adn he comes with a lot of baggage. Yet we would vote for him if we had to and if it was just him against Rubio. But now with Crist in the picture- it becomes voting for whoever can beat Rubio. Period. I don't trust Crist- not in any way. Moderate? Maybe. But there are no guarantees about which way he will go on key votes. He makes me nervous and don't trust him. But he would be better then Rubio. Politics here in Florida are never dull.

[golfguru]

31. Crist can not win as Independent....not in Florida

If lot of dems break for Crist, Rubio wins and wins by 10%+.
What many are overlooking is that Crist is heavily dependent on
democratic votes and Florida has large number of African-American
voters and they will not pull for Crist by more than 20% at most.

[wmbrew0206]

38. Yes, Crist can win as an Independant.

If the polls stay the way they are now, and Rubio says some stupid stuff like we know he will, Crist is going to pull a lot of the independents and a lot of democrats, as they will break for Crist since a vote for Meek is a throw away vote. This will likely give Crist enough votes to beat Rubio by a couple points.

Do I want that to happen? No. I would rather see a Democrat win. Will it happen? Lets hope so, since it is the most likely outcome that is the best for Democrats nation wide.

[golfguru]

40. Crist staying in the race assures election of Rubio

That is my opinion and I stand by it.
We will not know for sure until Nov 3rd.

[wmbrew0206]

44. Unfortuantely, you are right.

I hate to say it, but a lot of DU'ers need to face facts and realize that Meek is not going to win this election. At this point, it is all about defeating Rubio.

While Crist is not ideal, he will be like a Snow or Brown type Senator. He will be some what reasonable when it comes to voting on big issues and we need to break a filibuster. That is better than a Rubio, who will be an extreme version of Colburn.

[No Elephants]

34. Lieberman won because Republicans did not support their nominee and neither did Democrats.

And Lieberman had brought home the bacon for many years and shaken a lot of hands, etc. Also, national Democrats (Obama, Hillary, Schumer, etc., had damaged Lamont during the primary, then left him to twist in the wind during the general.

Although anti-war, he probably would never have been liberal, but he probably would have been better than Lieberman, voting with Democrats and not campaigining for McPalin.

[wmbrew0206]

37. It also feeds a narrative that the Rethugs want.

The rethugs are hoping that the more popular/closer to Crist Meek is, the more it benefits Rubio. Their thinking is that Meek doesn't have the support or money to win, and a lot of Democrats will vote for Crist in order to beat Rubio. The more votes that go to Meek, the less that go to Crist, thus ensuring a Rubio victory.

Rasmussen is all about feeding the Rethug narrative.

[IndianaGreen]

22. That's still third!

Marco Rubio's election would be a disaster.

Independents hold the key.

[golfguru]

27. Please read my post # 26

[ngant17]

32. Crist seems sincere, and he probably is

but you have to remember he only recently did an about-face from the Repugs. I would wait it out another season before I would vote for Crist, he needs to establish a longer track record of being independent in Florida.

There's nothing wrong with changing direction in your political track, but you have to set up a consistent pattern which takes more than one political season. Otherwise, there's too much risk for the voters involved.

[golfguru]

33. Well said n/t

[No Elephants]

35. Changing Parties because poll numbers show you will lose means you stand for your own ambitions

period.

[LostinVA]

42. Exactly n/t

[JCMach1]

45. Registered voters, or LIKELY voters... important distinction in a midterm