GREENVILLE, S.C. - Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts will win the public support today of U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami, adding a major Florida name to the list of prominent black leaders embracing the new front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination as the race heats up in the South.
Meek, a Miami Democrat, said late Thursday that he plans to campaign for Kerry in the coming days in South Carolina, where as much as half of the Democratic primary electorate on Tuesday is expected to be black.
''It's a hands-on endorsement,'' Meek said in an interview. ``I'm ready to work.''
The Meek announcement, to be made today in a conference call with reporters, comes the day after Kerry received the coveted endorsement of U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, South Carolina's popular black congressman who had been backing Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt until Gephardt dropped out of the presidential race
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