You may not know it, but there’s more to the heated Florida Senate race than just Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio. Yesterday, the players in the minor leagues of the contest — Democratic candidates Kendrick Meek and Jeff Greene — met in their first debate. And for 90 minutes they beat the hell out of each other.
The clash was an important one for Meek, who took pains to clear a path to the Democratic nomination very early. He needed to show that he was still a serious candidate, despite his poor poll numbers and lack of national attention. Greene, on the other hand, needed to show that he’s a serious person, and not just a rich guy throwing money around.
Local reviews of the debate describe two men intent on tearing each other down. What that means for the fall is anybody’s guess — polls show neither Democrat doing very well against Crist and Rubio.
“Issues weren’t simply relegated to the back burner, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel‘s Anthony Man wrote. “They didn’t even make it to the stove.”
Greene is spending big money on the primary — even running TV ads in D.C. for some reason — and he’s showing some results. A June 8 Qunnipiac University poll showed Greene and Meek tied in the Democratic primary, with each man drawing about 30% of the vote.
But there’s not much evidence to suggest either Democrat has the advantage in the general. Since Crist fled the GOP primary to run as an independent, he’s made a serious play for Democratic voters and polls show most voters are now split between him and Rubio, with the Democrats trailing far behind both of them.
Nevertheless, before the debate, Meek’s team said they would show that Greene was a dangerous choice for Democrats. Meek attacked Greene’s wealth, and reminded the audience that Greene once ran for Congress in California as a Republican. But the main focus was on Greene’s past as a derivatives trader.
“Mr. Greene was praying that they would lose their homes so he would profit and become a billionaire,” Meek said, according to an AP writeup of the debate. “And now he’s using those riches to buy his way into the Senate race.”
For his part, Greene continued to try and tie Meek to ethics questions about his mother, former Rep. Carrie Meek (D-FL). The charge has been the central subject of Greene’s TV ads.
Meek didn’t take kindly to Greene’s discussion of the subject.
“How dare you attack the character of my mother?” Meek said.
“Kendrick, I am not attacking your mother,” Greene replied. “I am attacking you.”
If nothing else, it should be an interesting race to the August primary
Check out video highlights of the debate here.
