Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-FL) is in Haiti, observing and helping with relief efforts; he got there on Sunday, according to his spokesman, buying his own ticket to the Dominican Republic and traveling to Port-au-Prince via car.

Meek spoke with MSNBC this morning, updating them on the situation there: "This morning I passed by a crowd of about a thousand young men [in the street...but today it was getting bigger, and I can tell that the tension on the faces of the Haitians that are here...because of empty stomachs, and we have to get water to them and we need to have security on the street right now."

Meek is running for Senate in Florida (he'll face the winner of the Crist/Rubio GOP showdown), and MSNBC asked him about how his experience in Haiti affects the race. Meek said he hasn't been campaigning since the earthquake struck last Tuesday, and he pointed out that the situation in Haiti will be an issue for Florida:

I haven't been campaigning since this hit, and I was actually supposed to be in St. Petesrburg today in an MLK parade...but what's needed here is making sure we do it right the first time, because Florida is gonna be the first state that's gonna feel that failure...the Coast Guard is gonna be very busy because you have over 600 Haitians who are already in the Bahaman islands who have tried to make it to the U.S.