Meek campaign claims dead heat with Greene in Florida

Rep. Kendrick Meek's (D-Fla.) Senate campaign is touting a new internal poll it says shows Meek in a dead heat with primary opponent Jeff Greene a little more than two weeks out from the state's Aug. 24 primary. 

The poll, conducted for Meek's campaign by the Feldman Group, shows him with 36 percent of the vote to Greene's 35 percent. Former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre polled at 8 percent, but 20 percent of voters were still undecided.

"Jeff Greene is in trouble, and he knows it," wrote Meek campaign manager Abe Dyk in an e-mail touting the poll's results.

It comes after a Qunnipiac University poll from last week gave the self-funding Greene a 10-point edge over Meek.

Greene's campaign quickly dismissed the internal numbers, labeling Meek's campaign "desperate."  

"He is ahead in the polls if they are surveying special interests groups — then it's a landslide," Greene spokesman Luis Vizcaino said in an e-mail. "The respected Quinnipiac poll found that voters are embracing outsider Jeff Greene's candidacy."   

What Meek's internal numbers and last week's Quinnipiac poll both show is that a large number of undecided voters remain in the Democratic primary and they will end up swinging the race.

Meek is banking on former President Clinton to put those undecideds in his camp. Clinton, who has already done a handful of fundraisers for Meek, will headline a Meek campaign swing through South Florida on Aug. 16. 

Clinton has three events planned with Meek — one in Miami, another in Broward County and another in Palm Beach County.