Kendrick Meek Forced Out Of Race By Dems Like Alvin Green?

Meek Says Crist Tried To Talk Him Into Quitting Senate Bid


Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek said it was Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and not former President Bill Clinton who asked him to end his Senate bid in Florida.

Meek talked Friday about the issue during an interview with CNN's "American Morning."

Meek denied published reports that Clinton had tried to persuade him to drop out of the race because he might steal votes from Crist.

Crist is running for the Senate as an independent. Meek and Crist are in a race with Republican Marco Rubio.

"He never asked me to get out of the race. I never told him I was getting out of the race," Meek said, referring to Clinton. "Gov. Crist talked to me about getting out of the race. I recommend to the governor that he should consider getting out of the race."

The allegations bubbled up Thursday when Crist, the Republican-turned-independent Senate candidate, said he spoke with Meek and "several people" at the White House about having Meek step out of the race.

Crist, who appeared on Fox News, would not say who he spoke to at the White House, but said he spoke to Meek about the possible shift and that Meek was "considering it."

Crist said that he spoke with Doug Band, a counselor to Clinton, who Crist said acted as an intermediary, relaying information about whether Meek would end his Senate bid.

Meek denied any intent to exit the three-way race among Rubio, Crist and himself.

"Any rumor or any statement that I decided to get out of this race is inaccurate at best," Meek said at a Thursday night news conference.

Meek has said neither Clinton nor the Democratic National Committee called him to say he should get out of the race.

But Clinton said he did talk twice with Meek about ending his bid for Senate, but that he never discussed the issue with the White House.

"He was trying to determine what was the best thing for him to do," Clinton said in an interview with CNN's Susan Candiotti on Thursday. "I knew it was being discussed, people had discussed it on and off. It was no secret."




Alvin Greene Won't Get Jim Clyburn's Vote In South Carolina


U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the No. 3-ranking Democrat in the U.S. House, said Wednesday he will not support his party’s nominee for the U.S. Senate, Alvin Greene, when he goes into the voting booth Nov. 2.

“No, I’m not going to vote for Mr. Greene,” Clyburn said in answer to reporters’ questions in Columbia. “Look, I have three daughters and a granddaughter. I think it would be an insult to them, if I did that.”

Clyburn said it comes down to the charges that Greene faces.

A Richland County grand jury has indicted Greene on a Felony charge of disseminating, procuring or promoting obscenity, and a misdemeanor charge of communicating obscene materials to a person without consent. The charges came after Greene was arrested in November on charges of showing obscene photographs to a female student in a computer lab at the University of South Carolina.

The little-known Greene, an unemployed veteran from Manning, won the June 8 S.C. Democratic primary with 59 percent of the vote in a shocker.

Clyburn said that an indicted state official can be removed from office, and that same standard ought to apply to a candidate seeking office.


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Sources: CNN, Telegraph.co.uk, The State, Washington Post, Youtube, Google Maps