Rick Perry, the sharpshootin' governor of Texas, will become the next chairman of the Republican Governors Association, according to Politico. The same governor who's releasing a book attacking liberal Washington policies and just this morning was reported to have called Social Security a Ponzi Scheme is expected to get the RGA helm next week at the association's conference in San Diego.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine weighed in on Friday on Karen Thurman stepping down as chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party.

In an announcement today, still floating on Republican wins that swept over Florida Nov. 2, Republican Party of Palm Beach County Chairman Sid Dinerstein officially announced his candidacy to lead the GOP at the state level. "Our challenge is to lock in these gains and create a virtuous cycle of campaigns and victories," he said in a released statement. "Here in deep blue Palm Beach County, and across our great state, many Best Practices have percolated up. Our job is to capture, multiply, automate and distribute them to all 67 counties."

On Friday, incoming Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, continued to name members of his leadership team -- tapping Sen. Evelyn Lynn of Ormond Beach to serve as Republican Conference chair and appointing two newly elected Republicans,Sen. Anitere Flores of Miami and Sen. David Simmons of Altamonte Springs, to serve as majority whips.

Karen Thurman announced on Friday that she was stepping down as chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, following the route of her Partys candidates at the polls last week. While Democrats lost every single race for statewide office, placed third in the U.S. Senate race, saw their numbers shrink in the Legislature to controlling less than a third of the House and only 12 of the senates 40 seats, and saw the loss of four members of Congress, Thurman insisted there had been gains made during her tenure.

Looking over the election results from last Tuesday, Matt Ozolnieks, chairman of the Florida Right-to-Life PAC, said the numbers showed that Floridians are increasingly against abortion. "Overall, Planned Parenthood endorsed 51 candidates statewide that appeared on the ballot Nov. 2, said Ozolnieks on Friday. Pro-abortion candidates won just 25 of these races. In contrast, Florida Right-to-Life-endorsed candidates won 75 -- a sure sign that the state continues to embrace the culture of life from Pensacola to Key West.

Audubon of Florida, a nonprofit conservation organization, has sent a letter to incoming House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, detailing its objection to HB 1565, which would require legislative approval of new or modified rules or regulations that would have statewide costs of more than $1 million over five years.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee weighed in on the coming congressional battle over earmarks. Huckabee, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and may do so again in 2012, called for banning earmarks for the next 20 years. Another big battle is brewing over earmarks; this is going to be a big issue for conservatives who want earmarks banned, said Huckabee, who moved to Florida earlier in the year. Some members argue that it would be an unconstitutional limit on Congress' power to spend money.

David Caton and the Florida Family Association (FFA) are not just going after Kodak for running commercials on DeGrassi: The Next Generation (will DeGrassi: Deep Space Nine be next?) on Teen Nick. The FFA states on its website that Teen Nick show targets teens with gay propaganda and other immoral behavior and the Teen Nick channel is airing the show DeGrassi: The Next Generation which is loaded with high-risk behavior. The theme of DeGrassi revolves around Riley Stavros, the high school football teams first string quarterback and his homosexual lifestyle.

Will Michelle Rhee, the former Washington, D.C., schools chief, be Florida's next commissioner of education? That's the scuttlebutt in Tallahassee. Though current commissioner Eric Smith says he has no plans to step down, incoming Gov. Rick Scott is said to be courting Rhee, an aggressive reformer who took on the teachers' union in a campaign to clean up one of the most dysfunctional school systems in America.

Saying they "can think of no better symbol of wasteful and unnecessary spending than passenger rail in all its forms," 29 tea party and patriot groups are asking incoming Gov. Rick Scott to scrap rail projects in Florida. In a letter to Scott on Thursday, the Florida Liberty Alliance stated:

Some 30 tea party groups will meet in Tallahassee on Tuesday as the Legislature convenes its one-day special session. Calling it the first statewide gathering of tea partiers in Florida, Henry Kelley, head of the Fort Walton Beach Tea Party, said groups will be coming from Tampa, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Gainesville and dozens of small counties throughout the state.

President Barack Obama may be ready to throw in the towel, backing what he hasn't before -- a temporary continuation of across-the-board tax cuts, even for the wealthiest taxpayers. Top Obama aide David Axelrod told the Huffington Post that the president's capitulation probably is the only way middle-class taxpayers will be able to keep their tax cuts. It's just the political reality in the face of the president's congressional losses last week, he said.

Commenting after Sunshine State News' report on a renewable-energy poll, power executive Josh Kellam called on Florida lawmakers to get moving on a clean-energy policy before year end. While the majority of other states are already reaping the economic and environmental benefits of strong policies and incentives for renewable energy, Florida remains stuck in the starting gate, said Kellam, president of Citizens for Clean Energy and senior vice president of Global Energy United LLC.