With Gov. Rick Scott looking to reorganize the state government, House Speaker Dean Cannon announced Thursday that he will create a new House committee to tackle the issue.

While a number of elections across the state appear to be interesting contests that will go to the wire, more than 30 members of the Legislature can uncork the champagne and claim victory more than four months before citizens actually vote.

The House sprinted toward the end of the legislative session Wednesday, tackling almost 120 legislative items in an lengthy meeting that extended through most of the day.

The House will be set to vote on the budget after 2:59 p.m. Friday in accordance with the mandate that there need to be at least 72 hours between the publication of the budget and the final vote on it.

Gov. Charlie Crist assailed fellow Republicans for ramming Senate Bill 6 through the Legislature like Democrats ran health-care reform through Congress.

"Quite frankly it reminds me of what happened with the health-care bill in Washington where members of my party criticized the Democrats for sort of jamming something down their throat, and then here, about a month later after that happened, the very same thing happens here in education," Crist said after vetoing the teacher performance-pay bill.

A day before unconfirmed reports surfaced that Gov. Charlie Crist will bow out of the U.S. Senate race and let George LeMieux and Marco Rubio duke it out for the Republican nomination, Crist considered one of his defining acts as chief executive of Florida.

Losing his political clout amid sinking polls, a beleaguered Crist did the calculus.