This was the scene at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden Monday night, where the Miami-Dade Democratic Executive Committee held its monthly meeting:
About 45 eager Democrats sat on folding chairs around tables covered with voter lists, their ears glued to their cell phones as they spent the evening phone banking. They took a break from the cupcakes, chips and calls, however, when U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek showed up.
"Kendrick Meek! Kendrick Meek!" they chanted.
"I love this race -- I love this race," said Meek, who has tried to portray himself as the "hardest-working candidate" and "only candidate that has been tested" among Republican Marco Rubio and Gov. Charlie Crist, an independent.
Meek -- who had earlier brushed off questions from reporters asking about concerns among some Democrats that, with Crist in the race, Meek may not be able to defeat Rubio -- asked Democrats to believe in him and work hard.
"I want you to keep the faith," Meek told the phone bankers. "As long as we stick together as a family...the people of good will win. We have money in the bank, we also have a party that is backing my candidacy."
Then he took to the phones, asking voters to cast ballots for him. "You don't need a ride to the polls?" he asked one voter. "I'm going to work hard for the middle class," he told another.
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