The Florida Republican Party’s newest supernova, gubernatorial nominee Rick Scott, blazed across Central Florida on Monday on a party unity tour with legislative leaders – and a star-studded fly-around on deck.

The Florida Republican establishment began digging out from the wreckage of the Bill McCollum campaign Wednesday, searching for a political foothold after being rocked by maverick, self-funder Rick Scott’s victory in the GOP primary for governor.

Florida’s unemployment rate hit 11.5 percent in July, ending three straight months of decline even as annual job growth showed its first gain since 2007, state officials reported Friday.

With the fate of Florida’s public campaign finance law before a federal court, Republican Bill McCollum’s campaign continues to work the margins with millions of dollars swirling around and passing between murky political committees.

Even as Florida Democrats pushed Monday for wide-ranging action, House Republicans continued to signal that this week’s special session could end with a thud – and within minutes of its opening.

With the push for an Arizona-style immigration law already playing a central role in the Republican primary for governor, a pair of Florida legislators Tuesday sought to add the issue to next week’s special session on oil drilling.

Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, and Rep. Kevin Ambler, R-Tampa, unveiled measures that would make it a crime for aliens in Florida not to carry registration documents required by federal law, while authorizing state and local law enforcement officials to question the immigration status of residents.

Florida Republican gubernatorial contenders Bill McCollum and Rick Scott have been blasting each other over immigration, but joined together Thursday in criticizing President Obama’s proposed overhaul.

In his first major address on immigration, Obama urged Congress to approve legislation toughening border security and creating a path toward citizenship for the estimated 11 million people illegally in the U.S.

Obama also repeated his opposition to Arizona’s law giving law enforcement officers broad authority to question the immigration status of residents.

Senate President-designate Mike Haridopolos is looking like the latest top Florida lawmaker putting his money behind fellow Republican Bill McCollum in his primary fight with multimillionaire Rick Scott.

Haridopolos’ Freedom First Committee recently took in $500,000 from three Broward County companies, but quickly transfered most of the cash to another political committee whose leaders are supporting McCollum in the Republican primary for governor.