On two occasions over the past week, former president Bill Clinton attempted to persuade Democratic congressman Kendrick Meek to drop out of the Florida Senate race and endorse Republican-turned-Independent Florida governor Charlie Crist in the three-way contest. Clinton, who had campaigned for Meek twice in October, was acting with the knowledge – and presumably the blessing – of the Obama White House.

The stunning news, first reported by Politico’s Ben Smith, thrust the Florida Senate contest back into the national spotlight following several weeks of relatively little attention after a series of polls showed Republican Marco Rubio with a double-digit lead. The high-level efforts, involving a former president and several White House officials, suggest that the leaders of the Democratic Party were willing to go to extraordinary lengths to make sure that Rubio, a rising star in the conservative movement of Hispanic descent, is not elected to the Senate on November 2.