Amid hyper-partisanship that rivals the 2000 presidential election, Attorney General Bill McCollum and 12 other state attorneys general filed suit in federal district court in Pensacola Tuesday, challenging the constitutionality of the federal plan that requires all Americans to obtain health coverage.

"This will ultimately wind up in the U.S. Supreme Court, where we will prevail," McCollum said, flanked by 50 state Republican lawmakers.

McCollum, following through on an earlier promise, filed suit less than an hour after President Barack Obama signed the historic legislation.

House Speaker-designate Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, called the health-care program a "massive expansion of federal control."

Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, called it "an invasion of the state's historic sovereignty."

Lawmakers in at least 30 states are working to prevent what they say is an unconstitutional mandate forcing Americans to have health insurance. But Florida, as in the prolonged Gore-vs.-Bush contest, is at the epicenter.

As a bellwether state, Florida's demographics and politics reflect the national mood.

The state's GOP legislators, who previously called for a National Balanced Budget Amendment, jumped on the divisive health-care issue and tapped into public angst about the plan.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provides health care for 30 million Americans without coverage and would add 16 million Americans to Medicaid. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the measure will cost $938 billion over the next decade. Individuals opting out of health coverage would face fines starting at $750.

"It's a deeply unpopular measure on all sides," said Robert McClure, president and CEO of the James Madison Institute in Tallahassee.

"Democrats are banking on the notion that doing something is better than nothing."

Florida's chief financial officer Alex Sink, a Democrat and McCollum's prospective opponent in the November gubernatorial race, echoed McClure's view, calling the health bill "better than nothing."

A Democratic candidate for attorney general, Sen. Dave Aronberg of Greenacres, called the lawsuit "a politicial gimmick."

"As someone who has worked in the Attorney General's Office, I am dismayed by the politicization of the office," he said. "The lawsuit has no merit and is being filed for purely political reasons."

McClure said it will be difficult, if not impossible, for Democrats to "straddle both sides."

"This is a polarizing issue and the health-care bill effectively nationalizes the November election," he added.

Ramping up rhetoric reminscent of the 2000 post-election fracas, Florida Democratic Chairman Karen Thurman called McCollum’s litigation "frivolous."

"This is just another petty partisan ploy from a Washington politician," she said. "Rather than filing politically motivated lawsuits, McCollum needs to stop wasting our taxpayer money and start doing his job, like cracking down on Medicaid fraud that is costing our state billions of dollars."

Senate President-designate Mike Haridopolos said it was unfortunate that Washington lawmakers could not come together, as they did in 1996, to pass bipartisan welfare reform.

Judging by the 12 AGs who joined McCollum in filing suit, centrists from blue-tinted states that include Washington, Pennsylvania and Michigan are being pushed into the fray.

The other states in the case are South Carolina, Louisiana, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, Alabama, Colorado, Idaho and South Dakota. Louisiana Attorney General James "Buddy" Caldwell is the lone Democratic AG in the group.