Pro-life leader Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue, will announce Thursday that he will challenge President Barack Obama in the 2012 Democratic primaries.

Gov. Rick Scott said creating more jobs and opportunities and leveling the playing field for everyone -- that's the best way to achieve Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream of a society where character, not skin color, is the determinant factor.

A newly formed group of conservatives called “America’s President Committee” kicked off a petition drive Monday to get U.S. Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana into the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Martin Luther King Jr., Hero

I had the privilege of being part of this man's magic when I heard him speak in 1962, while I was in college in North Carolina. There -- in a segregated city where whites used one toilet and "coloreds" another, where the largest hospital admitted blacks only to windowless basement rooms -- the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., in a single afternoon, welded into one thousands of people, black and white.

In his superb speech in Tucson, Ariz., Wednesday evening, Barack Obama did great service to the nation. He put to rest the libel that political incivility is responsible for the Tucson shootings. He did so with three words that he added to the written text: "It did not."

President Barack Obama lifted travel restrictions to Communist Cuba Friday, igniting fierce opposition from Florida Republicans.

While some social conservatives continue to grumble about the gay rights group GOProud, it will be included at the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) event due to be held in Washington, D.C., from Feb. 10-12, which will be packed with potential Republican presidential candidates.

Dear Charlie,

I'm going to miss you in Florida politics.  Well, eventually. When you really do leave for good, I'll be the first one burying my head in a hankie. Nobody -- not even the dour Bill McCollum -- has provided me with more column fodder. In the meantime, Charlie, as Gov.-elect Rick Scott takes his oath to replace you, I offer this little bit of parting advice:

Newly elected Chairman Rod Smith of the Florida Democratic Party spoke to the House Democratic caucus on Tuesday to outline his vision of where the party is headed.

They say that, in politics, "overnight is a lifetime." In other words, the journey from triumphant hero to discredited scapegoat can be very brief.

In the wake of the Republicans' triumphs in last November's elections, great hopes are being held out that Republican control of the House of Representatives can slam the brakes on Barack Obama's march toward a completely government-controlled economy and ruinous deficit spending.

Another name has emerged in the already crowded field of potential Republican candidates and the new hopeful has served as governor of Louisiana. No, not Gov. Bobby Jindall who looks increasingly unlikely to launch a bid. It’s former Gov. Buddy Roemer who currently serves as the president and CEO of Business First Bank.

In a widely expected move, former Sen. Rod Smith was selected to lead the Florida Democratic Party on Saturday in Orlando, replacing former U.S. Rep. Karen Thurman, who has served as chairwoman for almost six years.

The Senate and the House convened the 112th Congress, passing and adopting mostly routine housekeeping measures and conducting leadership elections.

Newly inaugurated Gov. Rick Scott has not yet signaled whether he will get on board with a high-speed rail connecting Tampa and Orlando, but the Senate president says he won’t go along for the ride.

In what likely will become fodder for upcoming lawsuits, a stinging federal report scheduled for release next week shows that shortcuts, mistakes, questionable technology and overall poor management led to the worst oil spill in U.S. history.