If the Florida Senate race wasn’t already exciting enough, Democrats are now suggesting the latest candidate to join the fight is part of a bizarre plot to derail Rep. Kendrick Meek (D) run by the GOP (and/or Big Sugar).
Maurice Ferre, a former Miami mayor, has not won an election since 1993 and left his last political office three years later. But on Oct. 7 he decided to enter the Democratic primary for senate, where he faces an uphill climb against a well-funded and nationally-backed Meek, who had all but cleared the Democratic field months before Ferre got in. Ferre hasn’t had to reveal fundraising numbers yet, but he’s hired an experienced campaign team that suggests he’s prepared to give Meek a serious fight. That would throw a monkey wrench into Meek’s campaign machinery, which cleared the field of Dems months ago and is now geared up for the general election.
A growing number of conspiracy theorists say that’s exactly why Ferre’s a candidate.
The story first appeared last week in the St. Petersburg Times: One of the men Ferre had consulted with before he decided to throw his hat in the senate ring was Roger Stone, a public supporter of Gov. Charlie Crist (R) and something of an infamous figure in Florida politics.
Here’s how the Times‘ political columnist, Adam Smith, describes him:
[Stone] has a reputation for being in the middle of bizarre political theatrics — from the “Brooks Brothers riots” that shut down the Miami-Dade recount in 2000 to the Al Sharpton presidential campaign in 2004.
According to Smith, Stone “predicted months ago” that a Democratic candidate would “emerge and very likely beat” Meek in the end. Stone told Smith about his connection with Ferre’s bid: “Maurice Ferre is a very old friend of mine with whom I have strong regard. I urged him to start looking at this race before Charlie Crist was a candidate…I have always believed that Democratic nomination could be worth having for a candidate for broad appeal.”
Ferre has admitted he and Stone talked about a senate bid, but “stressed that Stone is not advising or directly involved in his campaign.”
The same can’t be said of Stone’s associates, though. Ferre’s campaign advsior, Bill Fletcher, has worked with Stone in the past. Asked about the connection, one knowledgeable Florida Democrat told TPMDC today, “I have a lot of respect for the Machiavellian stuff Roger Stone does.”
The Ferre connection with Crist goes beyond Stone. Ferre’s campaign manger, Todd Wilder, was part of a group of Democrats, known as the Committee For Bipartisan Progress, that raised money for Crist during the 2006 Governor’s race. Before joining the group, Wilder worked briefly for Crist’s Democratic opponent, Jim Davis. He came to that campaign after Davis defeated the man Wilder had been working for, Rod Smith, in a contentious Democratic primary.
“It was basically Democrats for Crist,” a Democrat close to the ’06 race said. “It was formed out of the sour grapes of the primary.”
The source said it wasn’t likely that if Crist was behind Ferre, he would use Wilder to run things. “It seems a little crazy to me,” the Democrat said. “It’s more likely the sugar industry is propping up Ferre.”
Big sugar has always played a role in Florida politics. In 2006, Democrats say, the sugar industry was behind the Comittee For Bipartisan Progress that Wilder was a member of. This time around, one source mused, the industry could be trying to hurt Meek by funding a Ferre bid.
But another Democrat familiar with the current race said it wasn’t so far-fetched that Crist could be behind the Ferre campaign. “There are a lot of dots between them I have a hard time not connecting,” the source said.
Meek’s team has largely dismissed Ferre and said they’re focused only on the general. One Meek supporter told TPMDC shortly after Ferre got in that the newcomer was destined to be “the Mike Gravel of this race.”
A Florida Republican political operative not involved with the Crist campaign agreed with the characterization, suggesting that if a Republican wanted to upset Meek’s momentum with a straw man, Ferre was probably not the guy to do it. But the source was surprised at the number of experienced operatives that have joined the Ferre camp and said it wasn’t impossible to imagine something was up.
“Maybe he’s running to build up his name ID and then switch to another race,” the Republican said. “Who knows?”
For his part, Ferre has denied any outside influence on his bid. And Wilder told TPMDC today any suggestion he was working for a candidate other than Ferre was ridiculous and “very disrespectful” to Ferre.
“That’s not what’s going on,” Wilder said. “This has all been ginned up by the opposition.”
Wilder declined to say who exactly that opposition was, but he said the goal was to “take me off the field” because “everyone’s worried that Ferre has a good team.”
“I’ll put my Democratic credentials up against anyone,” he said. “Crist was the only time I ever supported the opponent of a Democrat.”
He refused to say why he thought Crist would make a good governor but not a good senator. Asked why he thinks Crist shouldn’t be in the Senate, he said “I support Maurice Ferre.”
