Meek, Rubio report fundraising spike in wake of Crist’s independent bid
by Michael C. Bender | May 3rd, 2010U.S. Senate campaigns for Democrat Kendrick Meek and Republican Marco Rubio say they’ve had a surge in contributions since Gov. Charlie Crist dumped his Republican affiliation and announced he’d run as an independent.
Rubio’s folks say they had 2,400 online donations since April 23 for their “flip the switch” campaign keyed to Crist’s party change.
Meek’s campaign announced 1,340 online contributions since Thursday. Some believe the three-way race created by Crist’s decision gives Meek an advantage in the November election.
But first, Meek will have to get past billionaire Jeff Greene of Palm Beach, who has vowed to spend whatever he needs to win the party’s nomination. We reported earlier today that Meek will raise money with Magic Johnson in Miami Beach later this week.
The spike in contributions for Meek was also helped by a blast e-mail from former presidential candidate Howard Dean, who asked supporters to give to Meek’s campaign.
“He’s not some ideological extremist and he’s not governed by raw political ambition,” Dean said.
Tags: fund-raising, Howard Dean, Kendrick Meek, online contributions
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