Former President Clinton says he never told Kendrick Meek to withdraw from Senate race

Contradicting published reports and his own spokesman, former President Bill Clinton issued a statement Friday afternoon saying he did not urge fellow Democrat Kendrick Meek to drop out of the U.S. Senate race in Florida.

``We did talk last week following a rally in Orlando about the race and it's challenges,'' said Clinton. ``I didn't ask Kendrick to leave the race, nor did Kendrick say that he would. I told him that how he proceeds was his decision to make and that I would support him regardless.''

`` I still believe he could be the best Senator to help Florida and America emerge from the current crisis and build a growing middle class economy,'' Clinton said.

He described Meek as ``a close friend'' and that their relationship ``extends far beyond politics.''

What he didn't explain in his statement was why his spokesman Matt McKenna confirmed to the Herald/Times and other media a story first reported Thursday night by the website Politico.com . It reported that Clinton, while campaigning with Meek last week in Florida, had twice asked Meek to withdraw from the Senate race.

The revelation that Clinton -- Meek's trusted and longtime mentor -- would tell him to drop the race set off a political firestorm for Meek and his campaign staff.

Beginning Thursday night, with a statement and a late night news conference, Meek's campaign called the Politico.com story inaccurate and that reaffirmed the Miami congressman's intention to stay in the race -- a race that polls show Meek remaines mired in third place behind independent Charlie Crist and Republican front-runner Marco Rubio.

On Friday morning, Meek was up early making the rounds on several national television network news shows to refute the story and lash out at Crist.

Meek accused Crist of spreading false rumors that Clinton had asked him to withdraw from the Senate race.

``I don't operate like this, and the bottom line is, is that Charlie Crist does,'' Meek said. ``It's mind boggling.''

Meek said that Crist himself had called him during the campaign to urge him to leave the race.

``I told him I'm not getting out of the race,'' he said. ``I don't sellout on the people of Florida.''

Speaking on CNN's American Morning show, Meek said he told Crist that ``he should consider getting out of the race.''

Crist, a former Republican running as an independent, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann Thursday night that he knew Meek and Clinton had talked about Meek dropping out of the Senate race.

When asked by Olbermann how he could know what the two men talked about, Crist replied: ``Because I had numerous phone calls with people very close to President Clinton. It's true.''

Meek, who attended a Florida Education Association conference on Friday, questioned media reports that the White House may have known about purported efforts to get Meek to give up his campaign.

``I haven't talked to the White House, I don't know what they said,'' Meek said.

A White House official said the administration did not initiate talks between Meek and Clinton but was ``aware'' and ``in the position to let it play out" out of concerns about Rubio winning.

In its initial story on the website, Politico reported that Meek and Clinton spoke in Jacksonville, but Meek campaign manager Abe Dyk said they were never together in that city last week. Clinton and Meek campaigned together Tuesday in St. Petersburg and Wednesday in Orlando.

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