Political activist and presidential hopeful Fred Karger, a veteran of many Republican campaigns at the state and national level, is demanding to be included in a debate held at the Republican Party of Floridas (RPOF) Presidency 5 event on Thursday in Orlando. Karger sent a letter to Google CEO Larry Page, Michael Clemente of Fox News and RPOF Vice Chairman Lenny Curry asking to be included in the debate, arguing that he meets the minimum threshold in the polls.

Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said the actions of the board of directors of Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the night before a public hearing last week in Tampa, factored into the lower sinkhole rate. If you look at what Citizens board members did the Monday (Sept. 12) before that hearing, they put in a cap, and what they put in the cap is very similar to what we ultimately approved, McCarty said.

Republican presidential hopeful U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota released a statement on Tuesday urging President Barack Obama to prevent Iranian leaderMahmoud Ahmadinejad from attending United Nations' meetings in New York.

In recent years, when New Hampshire Republicans disagree with their Iowa counterparts on who the GOPs presidential nominee should be, South Carolinians settle the difference -- and a new poll released Tuesday shows the state is up for grabs.

Former Gov. Buddy Roemer of Louisiana, an underdog for the Republican presidential nomination, took aim at President Barack Obamas proposal to fight the federal deficit by raising taxes.

Florida CFO Jeff Atwater, saying Citizens had been too aggressive, applauded the Office of Insurance Regulation for reducing the requested sinkhole rate hike from an average of 447 percent to 32.8 percent. I thought it was a very solid ruling, Atwater said. This was too aggressive a rate increase that was being asked for. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation declared Monday night that the rate hike was not supported by credible evidence from Citizens to meet Florida Statutes meriting the hike.

A USA Today/Gallup poll unveiled on Tuesday found that Texas Gov. Rick Perry led the field for the Republican presidential nomination, but did not do as well as GOP rival former Gov. Mitt Romney when matched up against President Barack Obama. Perry topped the national poll with 31 percent followed by Romney who took second with 24 percent. U.S. Rep. Ron Paul stood in third with 13 percent.

Gov. Rick Scott said Florida shouldnt have to face a party penalty for keeping itself early in the primary process. The state may look to schedule its vote before Feb. 28, putting itself on the calendar before Arizona, but after Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. If you add up all the delegates and the number of people who live in the four states before us, were still larger, Scott said Monday. Were a diverse state; you have to win the state to win the presidency. We should be early and we shouldnt lose our delegates.

Medicaid costs could grow another $300 million in Floridas next fiscal-year budget. Still, Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, said Monday hes been encouraged with the states ongoing talks with the federal government regarding the future of the program in Florida.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation continued calculating into the night numbers on the sinkhole rate hike proposal from Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

Gov. Rick Scott says theGOP needs to out-register Democrats in Florida. One thing Ive really focused (on) at the party is we have a disadvantage to the Democrats right from the standpoint of the number (of) registered voters, Scott said. One thing I want the party to do is to make sure we do a better job in getting more registered voters, Republican registered voters, because long-term that's going to be very important. Of Florida's 11.17 million registered voters, as of Aug. 11, 4.01 million are Republican and 4.6 million are Democrats.

In accepting the appointment as Senate president-designate, Sen. Don Gaetz called the times hard and challenged his fellow senator to: 1. Behave in a way people sent us here expect. Set highest ethical standards and outwork the bureaucrats. Let there never be a time when the people of Florida are ashamed of their political leaders, Gaetz said.

On Monday, Republican leaders across Florida condemned President Barack Obamas call to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans to help combat the deficit.

Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio released a Web video on Monday slamming President Barack Obama and his jobs plan. Plugging his Reclaim America PAC, Rubio attacked Obama, insisting the president did not understand the economy and was more concerned with his own job than adding new ones to America.

Bills that seek to create a law that would have allowed an Orlando mother to be punished for failing to timely report her daughter missing, and who was later found dead, will be reviewed based on need, not emotion. Nor will the committee play Monday morning quarterback of the prosecutor who initially charged Casey Anthony with child neglect, only to decide not to include that charge when presenting the case to the jury.