By Ron Littlepage (Ron Littlepage's Blog)

You may have noticed that it’s hot, really hot.

You may also recall the tropical storm that paid a visit recently dumped a lot of rain on us.

Combine the two and you get this:

@Mdixon55

Last week, Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill into law that included language allowing Jacksonville-based Florida Blue to expand. The now-signed legislation lets the nonprofit insurer purchase other nonprofit insurers or organization, which is not allowed under current law.

Here is how Speaker Designate Crisafulli plans on spending his Summer “vacation”, in his own words:

@MarcACaputo & @PatriciaMazzei

The election scandal dogging Congressman Joe Garcia’s campaign and two state House races makes it clear: Computer techies are supplementing old-school, block-walking ballot-brokers known as boleteras.

Over just a few days last July, at least two groups of schemers used computers traced to Miami, India and the United Kingdom to fraudulently request the ballots of 2,046 Miami-Dade voters.

@MarcACaputo

              Florida Democrats’ best candidate for governor right now isn’t a candidate and wasn’t always one of them.

And party leaders caused a stir by snubbing a longtime candidate and party stalwart.

But when the elites of the Florida Democratic Party met Saturday for their annual fund-raising gala, they suggested none of that was really a big problem for one big reason: Rick Scott.

Democrats gathering for their annual fundraising dinner at the Westin Diplomat Resort on Saturday were certain of one thing: They will defeat Republican Gov. Rick Scott in a little more than a year, reports Brandon Larrabee of the News Service of Florida.

A new Public Policy Polling survey finds on the 6th month anniversary of the Newtown shootings that voters “are still angry with Congress over the lack of action on expanded background checks. They continue to have overwhelming bipartisan support with 71% of voters favoring them to only 22% who are opposed.”

In an interview with David Brody, Jeb Bush sketched out his case for why he might be a good president.

“It will be based on my record,” said Bush. “And that record was one of solving problems from completely from a conservative perspective. I cut taxes every year, I shrunk the size of government.”

Rep. Paul Ryan  said that he and Mitt Romney lost the election last year in part because they were arguing against the “empty promises” of the not-yet-implemented Obamacare law, Politico reports.

The News Service of Florida:

On a day when the Florida Democratic Party gathered to showcase its united drive to unseat Gov. Rick Scott, House Democrats held a caucus meeting that instead highlighted the concerns some members have with the leadership style of Rep. Darryl Rouson, reports Brandon Larrabee of the News Service of Florida.

Former Gov. Charlie Crist got a warm reception Saturday from the Democratic Women’s Club of Collier County. The Naples Daily News reported that the Republican-turned-Democrat discussed the need to elect a Democratic governor in 2014 but said he doesn’t know when he will make a decision about a possible run.

“Floridians are smart,” the Daily News quoted Crist as saying. “They know what to do and I think we’re going to have a very, very bright future together.”

We’ve talked about this before, but it seems that there’s an interesting political/policy issue on track in Congress that will put many members of Florida’s Delegation in an important spotlight.  It concerns fair taxation of sales purchased over the Internet.  That’s right, Congress now has it within their hands to bring national standardization to the process, enabling states to collect the millions of dollars in annual taxes on unreported Internet sales. 

There’s been no attempt to unseat him, but incoming Democratic House leader Darryl Rouson of St. Peterburg absorbed some harsh criticism from a couple of fellow House Democrats at a caucus meeting this afternoon.

Rep. Mike Clelland of Crestview accused Rouson of alienating Democratic constituencies including the teacher’s union and…

State Democratic Chair Allison Tant said today the party’s statewide fundraising event, the Jefferson-Jackson dinner being held this weekend in Hollywood, has raised $800,000 and will have a record 1,300 attendees.

Nan Rich, the only prominent Democrat who’s a declared candidate for governor, is here attending meetings of party caucuses…