U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, called President Barack Obama's endorsement of a Hamas-led Palestinian state "the most egregious foreign policy decision his administration has made to date, and could be the beginning of the end" of Israel. West, who represents a heavily Jewish district straddling Palm Beach and Broward counties, said in a statement responding to Obama's Thursday speech:

Space Florida has signed an agreement for Masten Space Systems to perform demonstration flights of a vertical takeoff-vertical landing vehicle at Cape Canaveral. Under the $400,000 contract, Masten will conduct multiple flights from Complex 36 of the Air Force station. The operations will assist Space Florida in developing operational requirements for VTVL vehicles.

President Barack Obama offered a new vision of American policy in the Middle East in a major speech on Thursday -- but Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan is not buying parts of it. Buchanan, who called for a re-evaluation of foreign aid last week, said on Thursday that the president should not be sending billions overseas to help develop democracies in the Middle East.

Floridas political leaders are continuing to weigh in on the results of the Jacksonville mayoral race in which Democratic candidate Alvin Brown pulled a major upset and beat Republican Mike Hogan.

Gov. Rick Scott has signed HB 1355, the controversial elections bill that Democrats say will disenfranchise left-leaning voters. The bill prevents voters from changing their address the day of an election, reduces the number of early voting days, imposes restrictions and fines on third-party voter registration groups and creates a commission that will decide the date of the 2012 presidential preference primary in Florida. Democrats contend that the bill targets college students and low-income voters likely to vote Democratic.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott's friendly rivalry with Texas Gov. Rick Perry took another turn Thursday, with Scott warning the leader of the Lone Star State that his state won't be the No. 1 place to do business for long. Chief Executive Magazine's survey of CEOs recently named Texas as the best state in the union to do business. Florida was ranked third.

With the U.S. Senate clashing over dueling energy proposals, former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner is on the attack, bashing Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelsons votes which have followed party lines.

Call them Florida DREAMers. Will they still be senators after the 2012 election? In a little-noted vote during the 2011 Legislature, five Republican senators supported a bill that would have awarded in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens. Voting for SB 318: John Thrasher, R-Jacksonville; Anitere Flores, R-Miami; David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs; Garrett Richter, R-Naples; and Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale.

State Senate President Mike Haridopolos' appearance at Tea Party Manatee's "Meet the Candidate" night wasn't exactly a love fest. In fact, it was about as chippy as a Heat-Bulls playoff game. While the U.S. Senate-hopeful gamely defended his record at Tallahassee, the Bradenton audience zeroed in on the 2011 Legislature's failure to enact an E-Verify immigration bill. After the Merritt Island Republican reminded the crowd of 75 that the Senate passed an E-Verify bill, and reiterated that he is not a "dictator," tea party member Judi Hood fumed:

When all your publicity is bad, what do you do? You take what God gave you. You laugh and you make as many people as you can laugh with you. It's genius, really.

Miami-Dade mayoral candidate Marcelo Llorente sought on Wednesday to reinstate early voting this Sunday in advance of the county's special election. Calling the shutdown of Sunday's vote a violation of existing state statute, Llorente called the early termination "illogical and unlawful." The 2011 Florida Legislature passed a bill shortening early voting period, but that measure, part of an omnibus election reform package, has not been signed by Gov. Rick Scott.

A new poll from Sunshine State Communications, a firm with connections to prominent Republicans, found that a strong plurality of Republican primary voters did not think the Legislature did enough to help Gov. Rick Scotts jobs plan during the 2011 session -- despite Republican supermajorities in both the House and the Senate.

On Wednesday, Floridas two U.S. senators -- Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Marco Rubio -- worked across party lines to introduce a measure that would create a new IRS form for senior citizens which, the senators maintained, would make filing taxes on Social Security benefits and other sources of income easier for retirees.

Senate President Mike Haridopolos of Merritt Island released a 5-minute video on Tuesday for his bid for the Republican nomination. Trying to wrap himself around conservative champions like Ronald Reagan, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, the video features Haridopolos family on center stage, even showing the Senate president throwing a football around in his backyard. With polls showing most Florida Republicans undecided, Haridopolos is trying to introduce himself to the voters.

With his presidential campaign taking hits on all sides from a series of gaffes -- including his attack on the budget proposed by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. -- former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich tried to change the conversation on Tuesday and Wednesday by attacking the federal health-care law backed by President Barack Obama. Gingrich noted in an e-mail to supporters sent out on Wednesday morning that he had signed a pledge in Iowa to repeal the health-care law.