Meek Wins Florida Democratic Senate Primary

Updated at 10:50 p.m. ET

Rep. Kendrick Meek cinched Florida's Senate Democratic nomination by defeating political upstart Jeff Greene on Tuesday, and veteran politician Bill McCollum battled novice Rick Scott in the state's GOP gubernatorial contest as voters weighed the merits of establishment candidates vs. wealthy outsiders.

Will Independents Vote For Rep. Kendrick Meek?

As the first polls of the night closed, Meek toppled Greene, a big-spending real estate tycoon whose links to boxer Mike Tyson and former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss drew headlines, in the Democratic Senate nomination fight. The four-term congressman will compete against Republican Marco Rubio, who easily secured the GOP nod, and Gov. Charlie Crist, a former Republican who is running as an independent, in November.

"Floridians sent a clear message - they want a real Democrat representing them in the U.S. Senate," Meek said. "The naysayers said we couldn't beat a billionaire, and tonight with your help, we proved them wrong." Poking at both Crist and Rubio without naming them, he added: "Floridians want leaders who will fight for them all the time, not just when it helps their own political career or advances an extreme philosophy."

CBSNews.com Special Report: Election 2010
Pictures: The Campaign So Far

[waygone]

Great. Vote for a guy named "Meek". That will go over like a lead balloon.

[nearl451]

A little glimmer of sensibility in today's elections. Thankfully.

[cyberus-2009]

Sadly that little glimmer of light will no doubt be extinguished by the truckloads of mud poured on it over the next 10 weeks

[pragmatist1]

If Meek is guilty of the corruption others are accusing him of, in time the truth will come out. It's tough for any candidate, regardless of party, to win under a cloud of corruption suspicion. Perhaps candidate Meek could set the record straight for all Floridians? Now that would be the honorable thing for the man to do.

[pensacola8-2009]

Meek was a Florida State Police officer. His mother retired from a distinguished career in the Florida State Legislature. If corruption ever existed, it would have come out by now. In the South, blacks are held to a higher standard than their white counterparts....a sad reality. Meek's opponent was a low-road politician, and he wasn't even a very good one at that.

[Scimajor]

Wow! The CBS news censors are a bit trigger happy today aren't they?

What's the issue with me being happy that this was a case of not being able to buy an election?

Yikes CBS!

[Scimajor]

LOL, sorry. The cache on my browser fooled me. Never mind.

[Scimajor]

Disclaimer:
I don't live in Florida and I'm neither a Republican nor am I a Democrat (or a U.S. citizen for that matter).

I sure am happy that, at least in this case, you can't buy your way into office.

Oh and let's not forget that this is somehow Obama's fault. :-) (Have to add this before the Obama haters beat me to it).

[scoutsout80]

No, it is clearly Bush's fault

[pensacola8-2009]

Kendrick Meek is a stately and admirable man who exhibits a rare combination of humility and competitiveness. He has a great soul and conscience that will represent Florida better than Crist or Rubio ever could or did.

The grass roots campaign in Florida to put Meeks on the ballot was done through petition, instead of paying the customary filing fees. He traveled around Florida and proved to be connectible and in touch with main-street, where citizens gather to work, buy food, gasoline and find opportunities to better theirselves.

Crist proved his ineffectiveness on the last primary election when he signed a bill into law moving the election for the 2008 delegates out of the season announced by the Democratic Party. All Democrats felt thrown under the bus when they voted, but their delegates wouldn't be counted towards the Presidential nomination of Barack Obama. Eventually Democrats prevailed and converted Florida to a Blue State, rich with Democratic Delegates for 2012.

[teller31]

Not a problem. With Crist in the race it is like having two democrats against Rubio.

[pensacola8-2009]

Kendrick Meek is a stately and admirable man who exhibits a rare combination of humility and competitiveness. He has a great soul and conscience that will represent Florida better than Crist or Rubio ever could or did.

The grass roots campaign in Florida to put Meeks on the ballot was done through petition, instead of paying the customary filing fees. He traveled around Florida and proved to be connectible and in touch with main-street, where citizens gather to work, buy food, gasoline and find opportunities to better theirselves.

Crist proved his ineffectiveness on the last primary election when he signed a bill into law moving the election for the 2008 delegates out of the season announced by the Democratic Party. All Democrats felt thrown under the bus when they voted, but their delegates wouldn't be counted towards the Presidential nomination of Barack Obama. Eventually Democrats prevailed and converted Florida to a Blue State, rich with Democratic Delegates for 2012.

[tonyatq]

I guess you could buy the election after all.