Remember that Daily Caller story a few days ago about mysterious chitchat between Crist and Meek? Well, mystery solved.

Alternate headline: “Blogger wets pants.”

Bill Clinton sought to persuade Rep. Kendrick Meek to drop out of the race for Senate during a trip to Florida last week — and nearly succeeded…

Clinton campaigned with Meek in Florida on October 19 and 20, and thought he had won Meek over in an evening conversation the night they spent together in Jacksonville. But as the week wore on, Meek lost his enthusiasm for the arrangement, spurred in part, a third Democratic source said, by his wife’s belief that he could still win the race. Clinton spoke with Meek again at week’s end, three Democrats said, and again Meek said he would drop out…

The Crist, Meek and Clinton camps even set a date for an endorsement rally: the following Tuesday, October 26. Meek was to give Crist his blessing and explain to his disappointed supporters — many of whom deeply distrust the governor, who was elected as a Republican — that their votes could save the Senate for the Democrats and save America from the rise of Rubio, who is viewed both as a hard-line conservative and a potential national figure…

“Not being seen as a quitter was more important than stopping someone who was so opposed to what you and your party had stood for,” said one Democrat who had been hoping to close the deal.

Allegedly the White House “had knowledge” of what was going on but didn’t instigate it. If you follow the link up top, you’ll see that Clinton’s own spokesman has confirmed the discussions between him and Meek about quitting, which must mean that the Democratic leadership is now all but officially abandoning Meek and encouraging his supporters to switch to Crist. There’s no other reason to sandbag the guy by revealing his doubts about the race with the election just days away, and the fact that Team Clinton is willing to go on the record about it means that they’re eager for Meek voters to take this story very, very seriously. In fact, they’re probably hoping that if a huge media storm erupts about this tomorrow in Florida, Meek might reverse course again and endorse Crist over the weekend. Which, coupled with two new polls showing Crist within seven points of Rubio (likely due to some of Meek’s voters starting to abandon him for strategic reasons), means … this may suddenly become a race again.

Eeyoreblogger pessimism status check: Robust. Exit question: Meek’s wife thinks he can still win the race? What?