Meek gets state teachers’ endorsement … but so does Charlie Crist
Nipping at his heels. Charlie Crist goes after Kendrick Meek's base.
There’s no other way to put it. This is unambiguously bad news for Congressman Meek.
The announcement means local teacher unions will be able to support either Democrat Kendrick Meek or independent Charlie Crist.
The bigger remaining question is whether teachers will use their sway in the AFL-CIO to block Meek from receiving the umbrella group’s full endorsement. At this moment in Jacksonville, where the union is meeting, it looks doubtful that teachers will make that move.
Since Charlie Crist is a lot smarter and a lot better politician than people sometimes give him credit for, I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if he’d locked this deal down before he vetoed SB6. Either way, it shows that his outreach to Democrats is working, and more importantly, that serious Democrats have their doubts about whether Meek can get elected. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be hedging their bets. Most of the time, endorsements don’t matter. But sometimes they do. … Text of the endorsements after the jump.
The endorsements read as follows:
“Kendrick Meek has always been a strong backer of public education and our positions for as long as he’s been a public service. He has always supported our schools and its employees,” said FEA President Andy Ford. “We wouldn’t have the class size provisions in the Florida Constitution without Kendrick’s tireless work to get that on the ballot and to win its approval. We know Kendrick would be welcome addition to the U.S. Senate.
“Gov. Charlie Crist took bold action this year in bucking the leaders of his former political party and listening to the teachers and parents of Florida when he vetoed Senate Bill 6 and set the stage for a better Florida application in the federal Race to the Top grant,” Ford said. “S.B. 6 energized teachers and parents throughout the state and Crist’s actions showed so many Floridians that their voices count. We think an independent Charlie Crist working for Floridians would also be a great asset in the Senate.”
The Meek campaign put out the following statement, blowing right past the fact that while they were always expected to get the endorsement, and got it in the primary, they were never supposed to share it with a former Republican…
“For over a decade, a prolonged and mean-spirited battle has been waged against our teachers that demeans the profession and degrades our children’s education. But our opponents have bonded us together. We have fought in the trenches during the most challenging of times because we were united by a common sense of purpose and fairness. The forces of low expectations said no to the class size amendment, but we said yes and Florida won. Teachers know who their lifelong fighter and supporter is, and today’s endorsement is but another step in our strong relationship. It is always humbling to be supported by any organization, but teachers are family to me, and it’s an honor to receive your embrace. Let us work hard together and claim victory for all Floridians in November.”
BTW, the FEA also dual-endorsed in the attorney general race, backing both David Aronberg and Dan Gelber. Advantage: no one, and bad news for Gelber, who is the front runner.
Meanwhile, amid some not-so promising indicators, Meek gave what probably was the most impassioned speech of his life, or at least of this campaign, as he sought to prevent the AFL-CIO from repeating what the FEA did this weekend. Meek’s message was pretty clear: “I’ve always been there for you, now I really, really, really need you to be there for me … and only me…” From Post on Politics, which has lengthy excerpts of Meek’s union plea:
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.”
“I don’t just want your vote, I need your full support. Members should not have to walk in to the halls when I walk through and say ‘This is one of our co-endorsed candidates.’ Co? What’s that? You’re either walking or you’re running. There’s no jogging.”
“We didn’t have to wait to see what the climate would be or which way the winds blowing or if the environment is right for me to run. This state needed leadership and needs leadership now.”
“I need your full support. When you came to me in the state legislature and said, ‘Kendrick, I need you to stand up and run this amendment. I need you to be with us. I need you to come out to this rally in front of this company that fired three of our workers because we were trying to organize,’ I didn’t say I’d send staff. I said I’ll be there. I wasn’t a co-friend, I was a full friend.”
We’ll see if it works.
BTW, you can watch Crist’s more humble-pie approach to pitching — for the first time in his political career — for union aid, here.
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