As you can see, Meek's gains have essentially come at Crist's expense, boosted by his primary victory (see? Primaries are good!). That's a positive for Meek, but he's still 18 points away from Rubio. And that gap is apparently growing:
Republican candidate Marco Rubio has opened a clear lead in a Florida Senate race, becoming the latest "Tea Party" favorite to benefit from voter anger at Washington, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found on Wednesday.
Six weeks ahead of Nov. 2 congressional elections, Rubio leads state Governor Charlie Crist, an independent, by 40 percent to 26 percent among likely voters, the poll found. Democrat Kendrick Meek trails at 21 percent.
I certainly don't see a path to victory for Meek, and I'm now having a hard time seeing one for Crist -- both Rubio and Meek have unloaded on him (as has the US Chamber of Commerce) and he's having a hard time fending off the attacks from both the right and the left. His ads seem, at best, blah -- sporting all the passion of a cypher whose political values shift with the blowing winds.
But with Crist trying to appeal to Democrats, and with Meek attacking Crist, where does that leave Rubio? Home free, without a single group or candidate taking him on. It's like the red carpet was laid out for him, so he could casually stroll into the Senate, while the other two candidates split the Democratic vote:
Crist, a former Republican who turned independent, and Meek are likely splitting Democratic votes, according to the poll.
When voters were asked their choice between Rubio and Crist if Meek was not in the race, the contest is essentially tied -- Rubio 46 percent, and Crist 45 percent.