Florida’s largest labor union gave Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kendrick Meek its full endorsement, The Palm Beach Post has learned.

The Florida AFL-CIO is in a private meeting this morning to consider endorsements for a slate of state and federal candidates.

Meek got a scare from independent candidate Charlie Crist, who has strong support among the state’s teachers unions. But Meek avoided a potential embarrassment with a rousing speech to the group on Saturday. (Today’s print story.)

The union avoided a fight in the competitive Democratic primary between state Sens. Dave Aronberg of Greenaces and Dan Gelber of Miami Beach. The group agreed to endorse the winner of that race.

Aronberg’s camp viewed the split as a victory, but Gelber’s team said the decision lets each campaign battle for local union endorsements.

Gelber did seek the full endorsement, but ran into a roadblock in Pat Emmert, president of the Palm Beach-Treasure Coast AFL-CIO, who led the change internally for Aronberg.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kendrick Meek put it on the line with the AFL-CIO this morning with a 29-minute speech that ignited the crowd and may have sealed the endorsement, which independent Gov. Charlie Crist was hoping to pocket.

Here are some snippets from Meek’s speech in Jacksonville:

“I have stood with labor, labor has stood with me. You’ve had my back, I’ve had your back. I need you to be with me now. I need you to be with me. I need you to be with me.”

“The nation is watching what we’re going to do in Florida.”

“No one should be able to come in at the last moment to serve his or her politics and say that, ‘I’m your friend.’”

“I’m asking you to fight, scratch, crawl, bite, do whatever you gotta do to help us win.”

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Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kendrick Meek said today that BP needs to increase its pledge of $25 million to $100 million to spend on a national advertising campaign promoting the state’s clean beaches.

VISIT Florida, the state’s marketing arm, initially requested the company spend $35 million on an emergency campaign. Meek said that amount won’t cut it.

“The national media everyday is showing images of Florida and the jet stream and showing how it will wrap around Florida. It’s not good for tourism,” Meek said. “I don’t know if they’re going to be able to push back the perception that we have oil on the beaches or will have oil on the beaches or oil in the water in Florida that could have a health risk. … Thirty-five million is nowhere close to enough.”

Meek said BP collects $600 million per day and that a $100 million marketing campaign in Florida would be “only four hours” of revenues.

“Even that may be considered in the future a drop in the bucket,” Meek said.

The Florida AFL-CIO just announced the list of speakers for its convention this weekend in Jacksonville, where the state’s biggest labor movement will decide which candidates to endorse (and support financially) in the 2010 elections.

Usually there’s not too much surprise in the endorsements. But we’re heard whispers about a joint endorsement in the U.S. Senate race for Democrat Kendrick Meek and independent Charlie Crist, who made huge inroads with the unions after his veto of Senate Bill 6, a Republican proposal to make it easier to fire teachers.

You’ve got to think that anything less than full support for Meek is more trouble for him.

The convention wraps up Sunday with a closed-door session where 300 delegates decide the endorsements.

Here’s the schedule of speakers:

Ted Deutch, Friday, 2 p.m.
Charlie Crist, Friday, 2:30 p.m.
Scott Maddox, Saturday, 9 a.m.
Kendrick Meek, Saturday, 9:30 a.m.

State Rep. Joseph Abruzzo, D-Wellington, says he’ll support Charlie Crist’s independent bid for U.S. Senate if Kendrick Meek wins the Democratic nomination.

“My vote will not be going for Kendrick Meek at any point in time in this election,” Abruzzo said. “If the Democrats do not have a viable candidate and it’s between Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist, I will be supporting Charlie Crist.”

Abruzzo said Meek’s campaign has not reached out to him. But there seemed to be a personal reason behind the hostility, which was just the latest sign of trouble for Meek’s campaign among south county Democrats.

Consider:

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It might be a little early to suggest Republican Marco Rubio or Democrat Kendrick Meek have a problem with older voters (you know, the type who turn out on Election Day…), but a friend of the blog points out this cross tab in the Mason-Dixon poll released Thursday:

Here’s a timeline of events today (so far) in the U.S. Senate Democratic primary:

11:58 a.m.: Kendrick Meek campaign blasts billionaire Jeff Greene for cashing on on the mortgage meltdown, or as Team Meek refers to it: “betting against the middle class.” From the memo:

Jeff Greene pioneered trading uncovered credit default swaps and started an arms race between big banks that ultimately led to a collapse that has been catastrophic for this country.

12:00 p.m.: Maurice Ferre’s campaign issued a statement questioning whether Greene was “fit for office.”

“It’s appalling enough that Jeff Greene made his money off of the misfortune of hard-working Floridians,” said Ferre. “It’s even more insulting that he thinks he can use his loot to buy their votes.”

2:29 p.m. Greene’s campaign responds, calling Meek a career politician who “lined his campaign pockets with special interest money while our economy plummeted.”

Not a single Florida homeowner has lost a penny because of Jeff’s investments. But in the years that Kendrick Meek has been in office almost 700,000 more Floridians have lost their jobs. And while Floridians were facing foreclosure because of bad loans, Kendrick Meek and his buddies were taking campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and failing to regulate them to protect homeowners

But the new Mason-Dixon poll concludes Gov. Charlie Crist’s lead in the U.S. Senate race may be short lived. Pollsters believe hefty support Crist is getting from Democrats won’t hold up.

More here.

From Rasmussen Reports:

The Florida Senate race appears to be a whole new ballgame with Republican Governor Charlie Crist’s decision to run as an independent.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Florida Voters finds Crist earning 38% support to Republican Marco Rubio’s 34% and Democrat Kendrick Meek’s 17%. Eleven percent (11%) are undecided.

Two weeks ago, before Crist announced his decision to run as an independent candidate, Rubio held a seven point advantage in the race.

Since then, Crist has gained eight (8) percentage points in the poll while Rubio and Meek have each dropped three (3) points. It remains to be seen if this is a temporary bounce or a lasting change in the race.

U.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.

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek‘s campaign today filed 145,000 signatures gathered in his year-long petition drive for the U.S. Senate race in November.

Meek, a Miami Democrat, needs about 112,000 of those signatures validated to make it onto the November ballot.

Florida law allows candidates to qualify by petition in lieu of paying $10,000 filing fee to get on the ballot.

If the signatures meet muster, Meek, a former state legislator, would be the first statewide candidate to qualify by petition.

Meek’s candidacy has been eclipsed by the GOP primary battle between Gov. Charlie Crist and former House Speaker Marco Rubio, who sparred in a nationally televised debate for the first time on FoxNews yesterday.

(more…)

Health Care for America Now, the liberal activist group affiliated with ACORN and several labor unions, announced a round of television ads today thanking 13 of the 219 Democrats who supported the health care reform bill that passed the U.S. House last night.

In Florida, that means free publicity for Suzanne Kosmas of New Smyrna Beach and Allen Boyd of Monticello, both
facing tough re-election campaigns this year. The two changed positions after citing a government report showing the plan would cut the deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years.

Other fallout in Florida today:

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Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kendrick Meek will bring his campaign to Boynton Beach on Friday as he make a push to become the first U.S. Senate candidate to qualify for the ballot by petition.

He’ll be at St. John Missionary Baptist Church at 10:45 a.m.

U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, has returned $9,000 in donations from former House Ways & Means Chairman Charlie Rangel after Rangel was forced to give up the powerful spot after questions the belated disclosure of hundreds of thousands of dollars in previously unlisted wealth.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee took the opportunity to note Democrats have returned $378,000 of Rangel’s money, but U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, “continues to hang onto the $5,500 from his ethically-challenged contributor.” Those donations were to Meek’s previous U.S. House campaigns.

1. No, Gov. Charlie Crist is not giving up his Republican registration. But it’s pretty clear now that he’s decided to promote the independent streak that won him national attention as he built a bipartisan image his first year in office.

2. Speaking of Crist’s first year: With his final State of the State coming on Tuesday, here’s a timely look-back at our coverage of his 2007 speech, when he called for more environmental preservation and a voting paper trail and included a quote from Robert Kennedy:

“For him to get up there and do what he did today, he said: ‘I’m my own man,’ that was a strong message,” said Sen. Victor Crist, R-Temple Terrace, who is not related to the governor. “When he gave his final quote from Robert Kennedy, that was bold, and I watched Speaker Rubio’s face, and I turned to the two House members on either side of me, and I said, ‘Oh-oh.’ “

House Speaker Marco Rubio said Crist’s style has helped improve the tone in Tallahassee. “By far the most optimistic first day of session in the eight I’ve been a part of,” said Rubio, R-West Miami. “I think there is a general tone of cooperation.”

3. By portraying himself as an independent Republican (someone who loves guns, hates taxes and can work across the aisle), Crist is hoping to steal some of the sizzle of Rubio’s image as the anti-establishment candidate. In Broward County, Crist tried to use Rubio’s campaign against him:

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It’s no secret that the Florida U.S. Senate race has captured the attention of the national media and is a crucial race for both parties.

But much of the focus has been on the GOP primary featuring Gov. Charlie Crist, who is leaving office after only one term to pursue the post, and former House Speaker Marco Rubio, the first Cuban-American speaker of the Florida House whose somber face ran on the cover of The New York Times Sunday magazine not long ago, prompting Crist’s campaign to dub him “New York Times Cover Boy.”

While Rubio and Crist slug it out (and it’s getting uglier every day), U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, the Democrat who will likely face off against one of them in November, has been busily stumping around the state gathering petition signatures in the hopes of becoming the first U.S. Senate candidate from Florida ever to qualify by petition.

Read today’s New York Times article on Meek here.

A proposal from President Obama to repeal a ban on gays serving openly in the military — better known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” — has split Florida’s U.S. Senate candidates along party lines.

“We are a nation at war. The governor believes the current policy has worked, and there is no need to make changes.”

–Republican Charlie Crist spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg.

“Marco Rubio supports the current policy and doesn’t see any evidence it needs to be changed.”

–Republican Marco Rubio spokesman Alex Burgos.

“Before the Civil Rights Bill passed, Everett Dirksen told Lyndon Johnson that, ‘This is an idea whose time has come.’ Well this is also an idea whose time has arrived.”

–Democrat Maurice Ferre

“Admiral Mike Mullen’s testimony that repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell comes down to an issue of integrity for citizens in uniform, and for the military as an institution were powerful words of conviction and truth. As a congressional cosponsor of legislation to promote a policy of nondiscrimination in the Armed Forces on the basis of sexual orientation, and having spoken to senior commanders about this issue, the position voiced by the military is a welcome one.”

–Democrat Kendrick Meek

Kendick Meek‘s Senate campaign today flatly rejected our question about whether they might have second thoughts about stumping with President Obama after his efforts in the Massachusetts Senate race came up short.

Meanwhile, Meek’s camp suggested the possibility that Meek could be cast in the Scott Brown role if the same scenario plays out in Florida. The logic: Brown was laying much his groundwork while Mass. Dems were locked in a divisive primary. In Florida’s Senate race, that bloodshed is on the Republican side of the campaign.

“We saw last night that there is a strong national mood for change across the country,” said Meek campaign manager Abe Dyk. “Having worked as a skycap for tips, as a Florida State Trooper and having led the Coalition to Reduce Class Size, Kendrick Meek is the candidate best positioned to deliver that change as a U.S. Senator.”

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek held a roundtable with the Capitol press corps this morning and came out swinging at Gov. Charlie Crist.

Meek, a Democrat running for U.S. Senate, slammed Crist, a Republican who’s losing traction in a GOP primary against former House Speaker Marco Rubio, for his turn-around on abortion and his failed health care program that has been ignored by uninsured Floridians.

“Overall I think the governor’s a very nice person,” Meek, a former state legislator who is in his fourth term in Congress, began. “I don’t think he’s prepared to lead this state in the United States Senate. One, he doesn’t like to make a decision. Two, he’s very vague. And three, I believe he’s more politician than leader.”

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Gov. Charlie Crist and former House Speaker Marco Rubio are in a dead heat in the GOP race for the U.S. Senate, according to a poll released this morning.

The Rasmussen Reports telephone survey found Crist and Rubio in a 43-43 percent tie among likely Republican primary voters.

Crist’s lead over Rubio dropped 10 percent in the same poll since August. And the governor’s popularity is at an all-time low, with just 19 percent of respondents having a “very favorable” opinion of him.

Earlier this year, Rubio, the first Cuban-American House Speaker, was considered a long-shot in the race.

But conservative support – including the endorsement of The Club for Growth and U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina – has rallied Rubio’s campaign and drawn national attention to the Florida primary, viewed as a test of the rising “Tea Party” movement and characterizing the fight for the control of the party between moderates and conservatives.

Crist and other GOP leaders have angered Republican conservative base voters who typically show up at the polls to vote in primaries.

This summer, Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer – hand-picked by Crist – snubbed Rubio by endorsing Crist and discouraging primaries that he said weaken the party’s ability to win in the general election.

Crist alienated conservatives by applauding President Barack Obama’s stimulus package symbolized by the now-infamous “man-hug” with the Democratic president.

And he raised eyebrows in August when he appointed his longtime advisor and right-hand-man George LeMieux to replace U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, who retired before his term ended.

The winner of next year’s primary is likely to face off against Democratic U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, who is gathering petition signatures to get onto the ballot.