Courageous or desperate, Herman Cain continues to say things that other GOP presidential hopefuls wont. On Fox News Sunday, the Atlanta businessman blasted a Murfreesboro, Tenn., mosque as a beachhead for Shariah law and said residents should be able to ban mosques in their communities. "It's not just a mosque for religious purposes. This is what the people are objecting to," he said.

Citing lack of jurisdiction, a federal court has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Transportation Security Administrations airport security screening policy of requiring passengers to either undergo see-all scans or submit to aggressive pat-downs in which TSA agents may go so far as to reach inside a travelers pants.

Florida's Sen. Marco Rubio, participating in Bob Schieffer's debt crisis conversation on CBSs Face the Nation Sunday, called the coming week "our last chance to force Washington to tackle the central economic issue of our time." Warned Rubio, "It's not the debt limit, it's the debt itself." The freshman senator from Miami vowed not to vote for raising the debt limit "unless it is the last one we ever authorize and it comes with a decrease in spending of at least $4 trillion and a credible plan for the future that includes pro-growth strategies."

George LeMieux is on a roll. Tops in second-quarter fundraising in the increasingly crowded GOP senatorial primary, he also led Sarasota County Republican Partys online poll. Of some 1,100 votes cast, LeMieux grabbed 18 percent to Mike McCalisters 13 percent, Mike Haridopolos 12 percent and Adam Hasners 8 percent. Craig Miller, who just joined the field this week, garnered 2 percent.

While Tiger Woods continues to build the multimillion-dollar palace in Florida, on Martin County's Jupiter Island -- a love nest he originally figured he would be sharing with Elin Nordegren -- his former Swedish model ex-wife has found a new beau, Jamie Dingman. He's a billionaire's son, he's a "hunk" (says Nordegren's girlfriend) and he doesn't play golf. At all.

Standard & Poor's rating service upgraded its fiscal outlook on Florida to stable, citing the state's progress addressing its structural imbalances through aggressive budget cuts. The Wall Sreet Journal reported that the revised outlook reflects the state's structurally balanced for fiscal-year budget, which has benefited from cost-cutting and higher-than-expected revenue. Florida's economy was among those hit hardest by the housing crisis, which has severely pressured the state budget in recent years.

Calling for a balanced approach, President Barack Obama on Friday reiterated his proposal to reduce spending and raise taxes while increasing the nations debt ceiling. Running up against an Aug. 2 deadline on the debt ceiling, Obama asked Republicans to offer their plan within the next 24-to-36 hours. If we cant do the big deal, lets at least try to get a down payment on deficit reduction and send a signal we are serious, Obama told a press conference at the White House.

A delegation of Florida House members sent a letter Friday to the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), asking the federal agency to reject a waiver sought by the state to change its Medicaid program from a fee-for-service system to a managed-care system.

President Barack Obama will hold an 11 a.m. news conference at the White House to discuss debt-ceiling and deficit negotiations after meetings with congressional leaders ended Thursday without an agreement. Obama who, as a senator, opposed any increase in the debt limit, wants the ceiling raised, and he has proposed a series of tax increases to attack the deficit.

With a constitutional amendment requiring the federal government to balance the budget headed to the floor of the U.S. House next week, Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan doubled down on his support of it this week. First elected to Congress in 2006, Buchanan, who is the Sunshine States only member of the Ways and Means Committee, has been active in pushing for the balanced budget amendment, introducing a version of it as his first piece of legislation.

Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney signed a letter to President Barack Obama insisting that the federal government continue to keep funding Medicaid, Social Security and military and veterans benefits and salaries even if the debt ceiling is not increased by Aug. 2.

Florida will compete against four other states in an Education Reform Idol competition next month. Patricia Levesque, executive director of Jeb Bushs Foundation for Floridas Future, will represent Florida in what the Thomas Fordham Institute says should prove to be the biggest education policy event of the summer. The other states are Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin.

U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio took aim at fellow Democrat President Barack Obama on Thursday. President Obama has -- against all promises -- just put Social Security cuts on the table, noted Kucinich who ran against Obama for his partys presidential nomination back in 2008. This is not a compromise. It's caving to the corporate special interests who want to keep their handouts while dismantling Social Security. We need to stand up and tell President Obama that Social Security is not a political pawn -- it's a lifeline for millions of seniors.

Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio took to the floor of the Senate on Thursday to weigh in on the economy and the current standoff over raising the federal debt ceiling. Rubio spoke out against higher taxes and in favor of cutting federal spending to reduce the national debt. Rubio also weighed in on raising the debt ceiling, which remains the issue of the moment in the Beltway with President Barack Obama, Senate Democrats and House Republicans still facing a logjam.

Executive Director Melissa Meeker isn't fooling around. The new executive director of the South Florida Water Management District said she would rein in district spending and that's just what she's doing. At Thursday's board meeting she told governors that she will pink-slip between 80 and 100 SFWMD workers before Aug. 17 -- which is in addition to the 123 staffers who accepted a buyout and left last month. When all is said and done, the district will be operating with 280 fewer staff, Meeker said.