Republican voters are dead-set against public financing of election campaigns in Florida, a new Sunshine State News Poll reveals.

The front-runner in the Republican race for attorney general is none of the three candidates in the contest, according to a Sunshine State News Poll released Wednesday. It is "Undecided."

With less than three weeks until the primaries, four of the six attorney general candidates compared their passion, defined their positions on immigration law and generally pitched their strengths to become the voice of the law in Florida for the next four years.

With so many candidates and so many high-profile races, business leaders attending the annual Associated Industries of Florida conference in Orlando say they're having a hard time trying to decide who to spend their money on.

While Democrats are continuing to defect to independent U.S. Senate candidate Gov. Charlie Crist, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is not one of them. Nelson said in an MSNBC interview Tuesday morning that he would back the Democratic nominee in the race, be it U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek or billionaire financier Jeff Greene …

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee continues to ramp up his operations in Florida. Huckabee, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and is considering making another attempt in 2012, filed papers for his HuckPAC to work at the state and local level here in the Sunshine State. Huckabee, who moved to Florida from Arkansas, named Frank Tsamotales, a lobbyist and fund-raiser, to head up HuckPAC’s operations in the state ...

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who ran for president in 2008 and since has moved to Florida, came out swinging Monday at the federal judge who struck down aspects of Arizona’s new immigration law.

Drug Charge Won't Defeat Candidate
A candidate for State House District 1 says he’s staying in the race despite felony drug trafficking charges. The Northwest Florida Daily News reported last week that Ricky Perritt will remain on the ballot, partly because there isn’t enough time to remove his name anyway before the Aug. 24 primary.

With three weeks to go until the primary, Attorney General Bill McCollum is looking to reach out to Hispanic voters in an effort to catch up with health-care executive Rick Scott, front-runner for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. 

In conjunction with a Harrisburg, Pa.-based public-opinion polling firm, Sunshine State News will release the results and analyses of its first two Florida Republican primary polls on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Incoming Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, has a number of challenges as he steps up to his new role, tries to prop up Attorney General Bill McCollum’s floundering gubernatorial campaign, and tackles Medicaid and other health-care issues.

A Leon County Circuit judge struck from the November ballot on Thursday a proposed constitutional amendment aimed at exempting Florida from the federal health care overhaul, calling the measure placed by the Republican-ruled Legislature “manifestly misleading” to voters.