On Thursday, after former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner launched an ad connecting him with former Gov. Charlie Crist, former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux fired back at his rival in the Republican primary to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson on social issues.

On Thursday, the team behind former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, who is running in the Republican primary to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012, launched a new video ad against GOP rival former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux. The ad links LeMieux to the man who appointed him to the U.S. Senate -- former Gov. Charlie Crist. LeMieux had been a close associate and former chief of staff to Crist who left the Republicans during the 2010 U.S. Senate race.

Shades of Nixonomics. Republican presidential contender Michele Bachmann vowed Wednesday to bring gasoline prices back to $2 gallon. Speaking in South Carolina, the Minnesota congresswoman said, "Under President Bachmann you will see gasoline come down below $2 a gallon again. That will happen." Bachmann didn't detail how she would achieve that. It did, however, sound eerily reminiscent of Richard Nixon's ill-fated wage and price controls.

South Florida's Fairy Tale women's soccer team with the unlikely name magicJack defeated the Boston Breakers Wednesday night, capturing the first game in the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) playoffs, 3-1. The game was played at magicJack Field, on the campus of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. In spite of the score, the magicJack, led by player-coach Abby Wambach and boasting some of the best women's soccer players in the world, dominated both halves of the match.

South Florida's Fairy Tale women's soccer team with the unlikely name magicJack defeated the Boston Breakers Wednesday night, capturing the first game in the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) playoffs, 3-1. The game was played at magicJack Field, on the campus of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. In spite of the score, the magicJack, led by player-coach Abby Wambach and boasting some of the best women's soccer players in the world, dominated both halves of the match.

In an attack reminiscent of the "swift boating" of Democrat John Kerry, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike McCalister is under fire for allegedly inflating his military record. Accusing McCalister of making "grossly misleading statements on his website," Chuck Winn said the retired Army colonel embellished his "special operations" service. Winn, himself a retired colonel, told the political website Shark Tank that McCalister's home page subsequently deleted references to being a "retired special operations Army colonel."

On Wednesday, noted pundit Jonathan Alter, best known for his decades at Newsweek and now with Bloomberg View, posted the news on Twitter that there could be one more Republican presidential candidate entering the race soon -- Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey. My sources say New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is conducting focus groups in preparation for a possible run for president in 2012, wrote Alter.

While his bid for the Republican presidential nomination is flopping in the polls at the national level and in most states, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman announced that he had garnered the endorsements of two prominent Florida Republicans -- state Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, and Coral Gables Mayor Jim Cason.

More than two decades after then-Mayor Tommy Hazouri of Jacksonville led the fight against them, tolls are returning to the First Coast.

Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanans bill to open up the bicameral supercomittee, tasked under the recent federal debt-ceiling deal to cut spending, received some conservative support on Wednesday when the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) backed the bill. The NTU, which has been fighting for decades for lower taxes and smaller government, sent letters to all members of Congress urging them to back Buchanans bill, which is sponsored by U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., in the Senate.

The Florida Democratic Party revealed the keynote speaker at their state convention in October -- Vice President Joe Biden. "Vice President Bidens attendance sends a clear message about the importance of our state in this years presidential election, said party Chairman Rod Smith. Our states 29 electoral votes are crucial to ensuring this nation continues to move forward over the next four years. We are honored that he will attend and help us kick-off the 2012 election." The event will be held on Oct. 28 at Lake Buena Vista.

Former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, now running in a crowded Republican primary to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012, announced on Wednesday that he had been endorsed by the National Tax Limitation Committee PAC (NTLC PAC).

Competition for Southern Union Co. has reheated -- along with antitrust concerns -- as the owner of a Florida natural-gas pipeline this week affirmed its intent to buy the company. Southern Union, which operates a second pipeline serving the state, has been the target of a prolonged bidding war by Williams Cos. and Energy Transfer Equity. It looked like ETE would win out, since its $5.7 billion offer trumped Williams' $5.6 billion bid, and Southern Union's board appeared poised to accept the ETE package.

With mild apologies to The Who, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz takes a musical beatdown in a new video. Read some of the Fort Lauderdale Democrat's more overtly partisan and patently inaccurate rhetoric as you listen along.

Reuters reports that two Democratic legislators prevailed in Tuesday's recall election in Wisconsin, leaving the Republican advantage at 17-16 in the state Senate. The Democrats who successfully defended their seats -- Robert Wirch and Jim Holperin -- were among 14 Wisconsin state senators who left the state in an attempt to prevent passage of an anti-union measure earlier this year, Reuters said.