Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is co-sponsoring a bill to permanently ban congressional earmarks. The Earmark Elimination Act has been introduced by U.S. Sen. Clair McCaskill, D-Mo., and U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa. One of my first acts after being elected to the Senate a year ago was to support the moratorium on earmarks adopted by Senate Republicans, Rubio said in a statement. Earmarks waste hard-earned tax dollars, have eroded the publics faith in Washington and helped foster a culture of mindless and reckless spending.

Republican presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum won a key endorsement in New Hampshire as social conservative activist and former gubernatorial candidate Karen Testerman deserted U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann to back Santorum's bid for the GOP nomination.

The Florida Senate has posted on its website a 10-page outline describing proposed new boundary lines for each of the 40 Senate districts. The House redistricting proposals are expected to be released Tuesday for congressional, House and Senate districts. The Senate released only Senate and congressional drafts on Monday.

The Florida Supreme Court has disbarred six attorneys from Sunrise, Naples, Hollywood, Sacramento, Calif., St. Johns and Miami, The Florida Bar has reported. Another 10 attorneys -- from Clermont, Dover, St. Petersburg, Coral Gables, Tampa, Pinecrest, Pensacola, Tallahassee, Boca Raton and Loudonville, N.Y. -- received suspensions.

In an effort to better show where the campus is located, the University of South Florida will add its location to the name. While it may sound like a branch campus, for future marketing, the university will be called USF Tampa Bay. The official name remains the University of South Florida. School officials stop short of calling it an official name change, but rather more of a national advertising strategy, WTSP 10 News in Tampa reported.

The Lakeland Ledger Tweet updates from the editorial board meeting today with Gov. Rick Scott:

Gov. Rick Scott will release his proposed budget for 2012-13 on Dec. 7, the day before he heads an Enterprise Florida trade mission to Israel. No details were available other than the release date, according to the governor's office. In February, prior to the 2011 legislative session, Scott rolled out his budget in Eustis, a rural community 190 miles from the state Capitol.

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich is crushing his Republican presidential primary rivals in Florida according to an InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion Research poll taken for the Florida Times-Union and released on Wednesday. Noted pollster and pundit Matt Towery, the CEO of InsiderAdvantage, had been a Gingrich staffer back in the 1990s but is currently unaffiliated with the former congressional leader or any of the other candidates.

Gov. Rick Scott continues his quest to sit down with the editorial board of every daily newspaper in Florida with an appearance at the Lakeland Ledger this afternoon. The interview is set for one hour starting at 1:45 p.m. On Monday, Scott appeared before the Daytona Beach News Journal. Among the topics he discussed were pill mills, TriRail, online taxing, the Florida lottery and education funding, the casino bill, unemployment and the media's view of the governor.

The Christian Family Coalition is releasing a bilingual voter guide for Florida's Jan. 31 Republican presidential primary. According to the organization, the guide is the "first in the nation addressing issues of the greatest importance to people of faith, as well as Americans in general. The nation's economy, immigration reform, health care, the sanctity of innocent human life and respect for the family built on marriage as one man, one woman, are all included."

Restaurant executive Craig Miller, who is in a crowded Republican primary field looking to challenge Democrat incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012, took aim at a proposal from the National Labor Relations Board that will reduce union elections to a 10-day period. The NLRB is expected to pass that change on Wednesday.

From his perch on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio took aim at President Barack Obamas policy in regard to Latin America. Rubio said he would oppose three pending nominations -- those of Roberta Jacobson as assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs; Mari Carmen Aponte to be ambassador toEl Salvador;and Adam Namm to be ambassador to Ecuador.

With U.S. Rep. Connie Mack entering the crowded Republican primary field looking to challenge Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012, his opponents from both parties are opening fire.

With five weeks to go until voters take part in the first caucus, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich is surging in Iowa, leading two new polls released on Tuesday.

Two polls released on Tuesday found that former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich has surged to take command of the South Carolina Republican primary.