Can Florida Democrats recapture the U.S. Senate seat once held by Bob Graham? Or is the primary race between Jeff Greene and Kendrick Meek merely a battle for third place in the general election?
Polls show both Democrats trailing a pair of candidates who so far have commanded the media spotlight: Republican Marco Rubio, a darling of the conservative tea party movement, and Republican-turned-independent Gov. Charlie Crist.
But voters will have the chance to size up Meek and Greene at 10 a.m. Tuesday, when the two share a debate stage for the first time. The debate will be hosted and moderated by The Palm Beach Post, in cooperation with WPBT-2 of Miami, and can be watched live on PalmBeachPost.com.
The debate includes only the two frontrunners in the Aug. 24 Democratic primary. A June 10 Quinnipiac poll of Democratic voters showed Meek with 29 percent and Greene 27 percent, far outdistancing former Miami mayor Maurice Ferre’s 3 percent. Ferre, 75, also is seeking the Democratic nomination, as is Glenn Burkett, a “natural health educator” from Naples who was not included in the poll.
Tuesday could be pivotal for both candidates and set the tone for the final two months before the Aug. 24 primary. Continue reading here.
