Old School Miami Mayor Places Senate Bid
Miami's first Hispanic mayor will challenge Rep. Kendrick Meek for a Senate seat
AP
Maurice Ferre, then-candidate for mayor of Miami, addresses the media Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2001 in Miami.
The Internet was still a baby in Al Gore's mind when Maurice Ferre was leading the policy making in Miami. Actually, Gore was a baby, too.
Now, the 74-year-old Ferre said he is ready to jump back into politics with a U.S. Senate run for the ages, according to the Miami Herald. And you can expect the web to be at the center of his campaign, the old-timer said.
"As far as I am concerned, this is a wide open race,'' Ferre told the Herald.
Don't call it a comeback because it probably won't be much of a fight at all.
Ferre will take on Rep. Kendrick Meek on the Democratic side for the right to face off against a Republican for the seat vacated by former Sen. Mel Martinez. Meek has already staked his claim as the Democratic front-runner and nemesis of Gov. Charlie Crist, who is considered by most analysts as a sure bet to be Florida's next senator.
Aside from being behind the times, Ferre trails Meek in campaigning, name recognition and most importantly, money. But the wily veteran says he has a secret weapon to make up ground. We don't know what it is but it has something to do with "modern ways."
Martinez, the first Hispanic to serve in the Senate, retired earlier this summer and was replaced by Crist's good buddy George Lemieux.
Ferre, who made a bit of national history when he was elected mayor of Miami in 1973, hopes to become the first Hispanic-born Democrat candidate to win a state-wide election. Ferre reportedly was the first Puerto Rican born mayor in U.S. history.
He was also the first Hispanic mayor of Miami and served until 1985.
Posted Friday, Oct 2, 2009 - 2:05 PM EST
