TALLAHASSEE — From the place where he started his petition campaign in Orlando to the Wausau Possum Festival, from Pensacola's beaches to an early voting date in his hometown of Miami, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek plans an 11-day statewide bus tour in his U.S. Senate campaign.
The Democratic candidate will be hitting some of the same big media markets that other candidates have campaigned as his “Real Dems Express” rolls across Florida. But, unlike most barnstorming statewide candidates, Meek isn't starting at one end of Florida and stumping his way to the other.
The tour starts in Orlando next Wednesday, where Meek began his petition campaign to get on the ballot. He was the first statewide candidate to do so, gathering more than 112,000 voter signatures. On the first day, he goes to Sanford, Daytona Beach and Jacksonville.
Meek plans to spend most of Thursday in Jacksonville, then move on to Live Oak. On Friday, he'll move quickly across the Republican-leaning Big Bend and Panhandle, with rallies set for Monticello, Tallahassee, Chattahoochee, Marianna, Panama City and Destin.
On Saturday, Aug. 7, Meek starts the day in Pensacola and Bonifay, then hits the Wausau Possum Festival – a major stop for every election year. He'll return to Tallahassee that night.
On Sunday, the bus goes to Gainesville and Ocala for a rally with former Lt. Gov. Buddy Mackay, then on to The Villages in Sumter County. With early voting starting on Aug. 9, Meek will run down to Miami Gardens on Monday to put in his ballot.
He has a debate with opponent Jeff Greene in Orlando on Aug. 10, then a bus stop in Lakeland. On Wednesday, Aug. 11, he'll be in the Tampa Bay and Sarasota areas for three rallies.
Meek has more rallies in Fort Myers and Homestead on Aug. 12, then in Fort Lauderdale, Belle Glade and Highlands County on the 13th and the tour winds up with stops in Kissimmee, Melbourne, Vero Beach and Miami on Aug. 14.
They can't replace television ads and campaign planes in a state the size of Florida, but big bus tours are an attention-getting campaign tactic. Republican Rick Scott just finished one in his run for governor, going from South Florida to the far Panhandle and former Gov. Jeb Bush ran one the other way, from Pensacola to South Florida in 2004.
Posted By: Kendrick Meek
Saturday, July 31st 2010 at 12:50PM
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