Gov. Rick Scott signed the Legislature's plan on Thursday to redraw the state's congressional districts, likely paving the way for more lawsuits surrounding the once-a-decade redistricting process.

Scott's office quietly announced the move in the afternoon without comment. A letter from Scott to Secretary of State Kurt Browning simply said the bill, SB 1174, had been signed.

The signing was expected; Scott was largely hands-off during the redistricting process and hadn't given any signs he might veto the plan.

The war over the state's political boundaries entered its next stage Thursday, as final passage of the Legislature's redistricting plan for the state's congressional delegation was met with a lawsuit backed by the Florida Democratic Party and the threat of more to come.

Within moments of the Senate approving the plan on a bipartisan, 32-5 margin, the Democratic Party announced that several voters working with the party had filed a lawsuit challenging the maps on the grounds that they violate the anti-gerrymandering Fair Districts amendments approved by voters last fall.

Breaking with their counterparts at the state's universities, presidents at a handful of Florida colleges urged lawmakers to be cautious about any moves that could push tuition upward.

The comments came in testimony before the House Education Committee, which is working to hammer out a set of recommendations on how to overhaul the state's higher education system.

State economists left their revenue estimate for the next 18 months all but unchanged Thursday, prompting renewed calls from the House for lawmakers to finish their budget on time despite the Senate leader's hesitance to move quickly.

The new estimate changes the overall projection by $26.1 million -- about 1 percent of the projected $2 billion budget shortfall and an increase of 0.05 percent in projected revenue. It includes an increase of $46 million in the estimate for the current year and a drop of $19.9 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

State revenue forecasters will meet Thursday to come up with a new estimate that could shape both the size of the budget for the coming fiscal year and the length of the legislative session.

Republican leaders in the House and Senate are still divided over whether the length of the session is a closed matter. Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, has repeatedly and publicly raised questions about whether lawmakers should rely on January prognostications about the economy or wait a while for more information.

New maps for the Legislature and the state's congressional delegation passed three House panels on party-line votes Monday as the Senate Democratic leader unveiled her proposal for the once-a-decade redistricting process.

The House subcommittees tasked with drawing lines for the House and Congress each approved three alternatives for those plans, set to be considered by the House Redistricting Committee later this month. The subcommittee set up to address the Senate maps approved the upper chamber's working version of the plan.

As Florida voters begin to focus on the state's pivotal GOP presidential primary at the end of January, the leading contenders are former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, according to a poll by TelOpinion Research.

Romney and Gingrich are essentially in a statistical dead heat, with Romney leading with 27 percent of the vote to Gingrich's 26, according to the telephone survey of 780 Republican voters, conducted from Dec. 15-19.

U.S. Rep. Connie Mack has a strong lead on his competitors for the GOP nomination to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, according to a new poll by TelOpinion Research.

The survey of 780 Republican voters, conducted Dec. 15-19, shows Mack -- the son of a former senator and grandson of a famous baseball manager -- carrying 39 percent of the vote, far outpacing the rest of the field.

Even as the main events for the 2011 legislative session got started in earnest this week, sideshows seemed intent to steal center stage.

Gov. Rick Scott's annual budget speech -- at the Capitol this year -- was crashed by a correspondent for a satirical news show. The official Christmas tree made its appearance. Even one of the state's main political figures got an entertainment deal of sorts, when Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio signed a contract to write a memoir scheduled to be released next fall.

The House of Representatives panel charged with redrawing the state's political boundaries will unveil a slate of options for the state's congressional and state House districts Tuesday, setting the stage for discussions that could affect the balance of power in Florida for a decade.