PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Former President Bill Clinton on Friday denied reports - confirmed by his spokesman a day earlier - that he asked Democrat Kendrick Meek to drop out of the threeway Florida Senate race to clear the way for independent Gov. Charlie Crist.
Meek says he’s not dropping out.
Both men trail Tea Partybacked Republican Marco Rubio, though Meek was in last place, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday that showed Rubio with 42 percent of the vote to 35 percent for Crist and 15 percent for Meek.
Meek is accusing Crist of starting rumors that Clinton, his longtime friend, tried to get him to drop out.
Meek said Friday that during Clinton’s swing through Florida to campaign for him and other candidates last week, the former president asked him about reports that he was considering leaving the race.
“I never said I was considering getting out. I said, ‘Mr. President, that is not true,’” Meek said before an event in Orlando. “That was that. I never once told him, ‘Hey, I’m thinking of getting out.’”
Clinton said in a statement Friday that he had talked to Meek about the race and its challenges.
“I didn’t ask Kendrick to leave the race, nor did Kendrick say that he would,” Clinton said. “I told him that how he proceeds was his decision to make and that I would support him regardless.”
Front Section, Pages 6 on 10/30/2010