Gelber To Reveal Bid For U.S. Senate

State Sen. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach is expected to announce this morning that he is running in 2010 for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Mel Martinez.

Gelber would join U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami as the major candidates who've so far jumped in to what is anticipated to be a competitive race for the Democratic nomination for that Senate seat.

Gelber will make his announcement at his home, but there is little mystery about his plans.

He let it be known he will likely join the race after Chief Financial Office Alex Sink announced Jan. 16 she will not run for the U.S. Senate. Sink had been considered the party's early favorite.

Gelber, a former federal prosecutor, has served as the House Democratic leader the past two years before being elected to the Senate in November.

Meek, who announced his candidacy this month, had no immediate comment to Gelber's decision.

If elected, Meek would be Florida's first black senator.

Other potential Democratic candidates, U.S. reps. Allen Boyd of Monticello and Ron Klein of Boca Raton, also had no immediate comment Monday.

Republicans have tossed out a number of names of potential GOP candidates for Martinez's seat. However, former Gov. Jeb Bush, who like Sink was seen as a potential favorite, has similarly decided not to run.

State Attorney General Bill McCollum and former state House Speaker Marco Rubio are among those who may be considering a bid, and Florida's former Chief Medical Officer, Marion Thorpe Jr., has also expressed interest.

"It's shaping up to be a wide-open race," said Aubrey Jewitt, a University of Central Florida political scientist.

With early favorites declining to run in both parties, Jewitt said the eventual Republican and Democratic nominees could emerge from among candidates "who are not necessarily big, statewide names right out of the gate."