The campaign trail took former House Speaker Marco Rubio, the leading Republican candidate in the battle for the U.S. Senate seat, to Daytona on Saturday. Rubio campaigned at the Coke Zero 400 NASCAR race before heading to St.

Having passed the first version of its budget last week, the Florida House met on Tuesday to tackle economic issues, including creating a sales tax holiday just in time for back-to-school shopping and forming an organization to invest in Florida’s ports.

The House created a three-day sales tax holiday running from Aug. 13 until Aug. 15. During that period, books, clothes, shoes and book bags under $50 and school supplies under $10 would be exempt from sales tax.

With ports in other states gearing up for the expansion of the Panama Canal in 2014, Florida ports are trying to keep pace with a little help from the Legislature.

The Florida Ports Investment Act, a bill sponsored by Rep. Lake Ray, R-Jacksonville, offers $100 million in tax incentives to make Florida ports competitive in an increasingly competitive national and international marketplace. It passed the House Finance and Tax Council Thursday without any opposition.

Questions on port issues, employment and taxes dominated Gov. Charlie Crist’s town hall meeting Friday at Florida State College at Jacksonville’s South Campus.

Though the governor came to Jacksonville to talk about legislation, he also faced questions about his U.S. Senate campaign.

“I’m not concerned with the polls,” Crist said, when asked about recent polls released by Public Policy Polling and Insider Advantage/Florida Times Union showing him losing to former House Speaker Marco Rubio by more than 30 percentage points.