FL Sen: Crist Remains Strong, Meek Remains… Meek

When governor Charlie Crist dropped out of the Republican primary, left his party and decided to run as an independent most people thought he did not stand much of a chance of winning. Yet since that time Crist has not only been able to consistently maintain a small lead and actually increase it slightly according to a new Quinnipiac poll.

Quinnipiac (7/22-27)
Kendrick Meek D 13
Marco Rubio R 33
Charlie Crist I 39
Someone else 1
Wouldn't vote 1
DK/NA 14

Jeff Greene 17
Marco Rubio R 32
Charlie Crist I 37
Someone else -
Wouldn't vote 1
DK/NA 12

While this is not a huge lead for Crist, one shouldn't really expect a huge leads in three way contests, in both possible match ups Crist lead of Rubio is well outside the polls margin of error. While the poll says it would be best for Crist if Kendrik Meek wins the Democratic primary I'm not sure that is the case. Billionaire Jeff Greene definitely has a lot of his own money to spend on campaign advertising but will get very little institutional backing and has tons of baggage. Markos Moulitsas is calling on all Democrats to back Crist if Greene wins the August 10th primary.

The fact that Greene is polling as technically the strong Democrat in the general election speaks very poorly of Meek's Campaign. With Meek currently trailing Greene in the Democratic primary and unable to make the case that he is actually electable in the general election, it is hard to see how he really rallies supporters for upcoming primary.