This Week’s Hero: Kendrick Meek

Kendrick Meek’s bid to become the next senator from Florida might have crashed on the rocks of a shrinking Democratic base, but wow – didn’t the Miami congressman show a lot of Floridians that political candidacy and human decency need not be mutually exclusive.

Nobody worked harder, talked straighter, kept the discourse more civil.

And nobody, by the way, had to slog through such a swamp of lesser men to keep his promise to the people who supported him.

In his victory speech Election Night, Marco Rubio said it all. “Congressman Meek … has given us a lesson in dignity and in strength.” The crowd agreed, responding with cheers.

Meek got 20 percent of the 5,338,754 votes cast in the Senate race, behind Republican Rubio’s 49 percent and partyless Charlie Crist’s 30 percent.

He could have used his concession speech to gouge the living fur out of Gov. Charlie Crist, the no-party-affiliation candidate who, with no real support base of his own, did his best to steal Meek’s. But Meek didn’t stoop. He rose above rancor, congratulating Crist on his campaign.

It wasn’t effusive congratulations, nor should it have been. But Meek stayed true to his earliest campaign promise – to take the courteous, decent high road.

He made a particular point of congratulating Rubio for “standing on principle.”

And whether you agree with him or not, principle is a big deal to Kendrick Meek. Remember his campaign:

He said somebody has to be there to represent the disenfranchised. “That would be me,” he announced, and proceeded to campaign hardest in neighborhoods where unemployment is high or poverty a transparent reality.

He said he backs President Barack Obama’s health-care plan: “The president campaigned on that and was elected at least partly on that and that’s what the American people still want – affordable health care.”

He said giving tax breaks to the rich would be a mistake. “You can’t talk about bringing down the deficit and creating jobs while you’re cutting taxes for the richest Americans.”

Kendrick Meek did not have a winning message. Not this cycle of tea parties and anti-government angst. But he had the message he believed in, the one he’d had from the beginning. He didn’t flip-flop. He made no promises he couldn’t deliver. And when former President Bill Clinton – and many others in his own dysfunctional Party – said he should consider stepping aside for the more electable Crist, he said no, no way, no chance. I promised my supporters, I'm in it till the end.

Kendrick Meek didn’t win the election but he’s no loser. I'm betting we'll see him in public office again – perhaps sooner rather than later.



This Week's Zero: Karen Thurman

My best guess is, it’s not a pretty day in Thurmanland. The sun isn't shining, the birds aren't singing, there is no peace in this valley.

For Karen Thurman, chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, it must be like somebody dropped a 10-ton bomb and she’s wandering through the rubble.

Close your eyes and you can almost hear her screaming.