U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, who flirted for a few months with a 2010 U.S. Senate bid, today endorsed fellow Democratic U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami for Senate. U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, also endorsed Meek today.

Said Klein: “I am proud to support Kendrick Meek for U.S. Senate. His hard work helped Democrats take back the majority in Congress in 2006. As a U.S. Senator, Kendrick will fight for our entire state and help pass critical legislation like the Homeowners’ Defense Act. He has my full support, and I look forward to seeing Kendrick working on the other side of the Capitol Rotunda soon.”

West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel, a Democrat and former (and future?) congressional hopeful, has also endorsed Meek.

While Meek is the apparent Democatic frontrunner, a Quinnipiac University poll last week shows he’s little-known among voters, especially when compared to the GOP’s Senate frontrunner, Gov. Charlie Crist.

The latest Quinnipiac University poll of Florida voters shows Gov. Charlie Crist with a 54-to-23 percent lead over former state House Speaker Marco Rubio in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate.

Among Democratic voters, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek leads the field with 18 percent. More than half of Democratic voters are undecided. Eighty percent of Floridians, including 74 percent of Dems, say they don’t know enough about Meek to form an opinion.

Among all Florida voters, Crist has a higher job-approval rating (62 percent positive, 28 percent negative) than President Obama (58-35).

Click here to read the entire poll.

Taken June 2-7, the poll doesn’t include former New Hampshire Sen. Bob Smith, who recently launched a Republican campaign for Senate.

State Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, sidestepped a U.S. Senate primary over the weekend but may be headed into a three-Democrat battle for the party’s attorney general nomination.

Gelber, state Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, and former Democratic state Sen. Rod Smith of Alachua are all continuing to explore runs for the state’s top legal post in 2010. Incumbent AG Bill McCollum is running for governor.

The three potential Democratic candidates have talked extensively to each other over the last few weeks about avoiding a primary, but so far none has ruled out running.

“When we get into these primaries, it tends to become a circular firing squad,” Gelber said today.

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U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, will seek a third term in Congress next year rather than pursue a U.S. Senate bid, he announced today.

With about $1.8 million in his campaign account and no other Democrats of statewide stature running, Klein said earlier this year he was considering a run for the seat of retiring Republican Sen. Mel Martinez. Two other Democrats — U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami and state Sen. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach — are running, although Gelber is mulling a switch to the attorney general’s race.

Democratic enthusiasm for the Senate seat has cooled since popular Republican Gov. Charlie Crist entered the race.

Read Klein’s statement after the jump…..

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