The AP has a story about Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, receiving more than $150,000 from Brevard Community College for writing a book on politics and government in the Sunshine State -- of which there is currently only one copy.

Gov. Rick Scott will kick off a "Share a Little Sunshine Tour" of some of the areas hit hardest by the nation's cold winter this year, to promote tourism in Florida. Scott will hold a rally Tuesday at the University of Central Florida's Rosen School of Hospitality Management, along with VISIT FLORIDA, Visit Orlando, and the Partnership for Florida's Tourism, before heading to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York and Chicago later in the week.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad has declared that his state will keep its traditional position as the first state primary in the presidential nominating process, telling CNN that he will move ahead of Florida if necessary. Florida Republicans have stated their intention to hold the 2012 GOP presidential primary in January, even if that means risking losing delegates.

With Sen. Steve Wise, R-Jacksonville, set to retire in 2012 due to term limits, Republicans from across the state have rallied behind former Rep. Aaron Beans bid to replace him in the Senate.

Over the weekend, Florida Republican U.S. Rep. David Rivera toured the Everglades National Park and the Big Cypress National Preserve and pledged to fight to preserve them. Our nation has a $14 trillion national debt, as well as record deficits, Rivera said. There is no question we are facing a difficult budget year. However, we're going to fight for our priorities within those constraints.

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul and businessman Herman Cain shared straw poll victories at a national tea party conference over the weekend. Cain won a live straw poll conducted at the American Policy Summit in Phoenix, garnering 22 percent. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty took 16 percent and Paul placed third with 15 percent.

Hundreds of nurse practitioners were joined by doctors, patients and health-care workers at rallies in five cities across Florida on Saturday. Nurse practitioners, promoting legislation that would grant their right to practice at the full scope of their profession, rallied for their cause in Miami, Sarasota, Orlando, Tallahassee and Pensacola.

Predicting a deepening economic slump, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul told a tea party conference on Saturday that federal policies are conspiring to raise prices and slow growth. The Texas congressman, who has run for president as a Libertarian and as a Republican, called the Federal Reserve Bank "the great facilitator" for endless military adventures overseas and an unsustainable welfare state at home. "None of this could happen without the Fed, which is printing too much money," Paul told the American Policy Summit in Phoenix.

Republican presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty told a national tea party conference on Saturday that Barack Obama's view of government is "completely backward." In prepared remarks issued in advance of his speech at the American Policy Summit, the former Minnesota governor said, "We dont want a bigger government shoving mandates down our throats. Hes got it completely backward.They, the bureaucrats, dont tell us what to do. We, the people, tell the government what to do.

The philosophical dynamism of the conservative movement was on display at a national tea party conference Saturday, when Fair Tax and Flat Tax advocates debated their respective reforms. Fair Tax supporters, led by Rep. Rob Woodall, R-Ga., called their legislation "the only bill that eliminates every exception, favor and loophole. It's the only one that zeros out the corporate income tax." "Is a sales tax of 23 cents out of every dollar too much to pay?" Linder asked.

Ralph Reed praised the tea party movement and Florida on Saturday, applauding the election of Gov. Rick Scott and Sen. Marco Rubio. "We replaced Charlie Crist with Rick Scott. That was a pretty good trade," said Reed, who grew up in Miami and became the first executive director of the Christian Coalition. "Marco Rubio will be a leader for our values for the next 25 years," he added.

Obamacare was pounded on the podium at the national tea party conference in Phoenix on Saturday. Heather Richardson Higgins, president and CEO of Independent Women's Voice, talked up SavingOurHealthCare.org -- a clearinghouse site for political activism against the federal law. Signaling a hard line to congressional Republicans, speakers at the American Policy Summit focused on repealing -- not retooling -- the law.

Media critic Brent Bozell recited a litany of press missteps and bias to the delight of a national tea party crowd Friday night. Calling the rise of the tea party movement after the 2008 rout of the GOP "the most extraordinary revolution since the [American] revolution," Bozell said the media consistently underestimate the power of conservatives to win elections.

In a challenge to the Republican Party, tea party activists were urged Friday night to reassert states' rights and organize in primaries to "break the corrupt cycle of incumbents." Eric O'Keefe, founding board member of U.S. Term Limits, took aim at both major political parties and garnered rousing cheers by saying, "It's time to reclaim the rights of states in our constitutional system." Blasting "bipartisan boondoggles" and the "ruling elites of Wall Street and Washington," O'Keefe took aim at incumbents on both sides of the aisle.