Former House Speaker Marco Rubio, the Republican nominee in the U.S. Senate race, announced on Thursday that he had accepted seven invitations for debates in September and October and is calling for Democratic nominee U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek and Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running without party affiliation, to join him.

Florida Trend ran a fascinating profile by Amy Keller on U.S. Sen. George LeMieux and offered a glimpse of what his future ambitions are -- adding to the growing speculation that LeMieux could be interested in taking on Bill Nelson in 2012. The article looks into LeMieux building bridges with Republicans at the state and national level. For example, despite his long history with Charlie Crist, LeMieux is backing former House Speaker Marco Rubio, the Republican candidate, over the governor in the U.S. Senate race.

The Cabinet unanimously confirmed Gen. Bob Milligan to serve as the interim executive director of the Florida Department of Veterans Affairs, taking over from LeRoy Collins Jr. who was killed by a car while riding his bike. A former general with the Marines, Milligan has also served as state comptroller, winning election to that office in 1994, and as interim director of the State Board of Administration.

Former House Speaker Marco Rubio, the Republican candidate in Novembers U.S. Senate election, took aim at Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running without party affiliation in the race. The Rubio team released a web video showing a clip of Crist responding Who cares? to a question about which party he will caucus with if he is elected to the Senate. Repeating the clip, the video contains quotes attempting to show that Crist has no principles and puts his personal ambitions above everything else.

In the first poll of the race to show how U.S. Senate candidates are faring since Tuesday's primary, Marco Rubio takes a strong lead over Charlie Crist and Kendrick Meek. Since the last poll, before the primary, Rubio has come up 2 percentage points while Crist has gone down 3. Meek stayed the same. From Rasmussen: "With the results of this new survey, Floridas Senate race moves from Tossup to Leans Republican in the Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 Balance of Power summary."

Two Tea Party groups in Central Florida today endorsed Republican nominee Daniel Webster's bid to unseat Rep. Alan Grayson. The West Orlando Tea Party and the Central Florida Tea Party Council backed Webster, who topped a field of seven GOP candidates in Tuesday's primary. Daniel Webster is the ideal conservative candidate to run against Alan Grayson, because the contrasts could not be more striking, said WOTP founder Ron McCoy. The groups' endorsement drew a rebuke from the rival Florida TEA Party, which has Peg Dunmire in the race.

Independent gubernatorial candidate Bud Chiles, looking to catch up with Democratic nominee state CFO Alex Sink and Republican candidate Rick Scott, ripped into interest groups on Thursday morning as the campaign trail took him to Tampa. Standing in front of an office which is the address of more than 60 current or defunct political organizations, Chiles called for more transparency for PACs, CCEs and 527 groups.

In comments to the press after a Cabinet meeting today, Bill McCollum continued with his campaign-style negative remarks against the Republican gubernatorial nominee Rick Scott. "I still have serious questions ... about issues with his character, his integrity, his honesty, things that go back to Columbia/HCA and I have not had the occasion to really actually even get acquainted with him," McCollum told the Miami Herald. "As other voters will do, I will judge him throughout this campaign."

On Thursday morning, the Chiefs for Quality Law Enforcement Committee of Continuous Existence endorsed former House Speaker Marco Rubio, the Republican candidate in the race for the U.S. Senate election.

The Cabinet passed a resolution honoring Florida TaxWatch CEO Dominic Calabro for his three decades of leading that organization.

His U.S. Senate rivals -- Gov. Charlie Crist and Kendrick Meek -- have posted recent videos of themselves giving speeches or talking on the news, but as far as actual ads go for the general election, Marco Rubio has pulled ahead.

Having defeated Robert Lowry and Donna Milo for the Republican nomination to take on Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz in November, restaurant owner Karen Harrington took aim at the incumbent and Democrats in Washington. With the primary now behind us, it is time for us to unify as a party and advance our ideas, our principles, and the agenda that we believe is essential for restoring accountability and fiscal responsibility back to our federal government," said Harrington.

In the afterglow of Rick Scott's "outsider" victory over Bill McCollum, TEA Party congressional candidate Peg Dunmire said she defended the former Columbia/HCA executive's record throughout the primary campaign. "I witnessed the distortions that the McCollum camp used in their ads. I am a health-care professional, I understand the Medicare case and would like to remind all readers that the problems that were cited in the fraud case are the problems with government-run health care," said Dunmire, who is running in the 8th Congressional District.

While U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw did not face a challenge in the Republican primary on Tuesday, he did spend the day touring farms and speaking to the Madison County Farm Bureau about taxes and the size and scope of the federal government. He offered harsh words for President Barack Obamas handling of the economy.

Talk about a tiny turnout. The first-ever Libertarian primary in Florida drew a grand total of 68 voters in state House District 33. The winner, Franklin Perez, garnered 49 votes to beat Ellen Paul, who drew 19. Perez, who fashioned himself as the more doctrinaire Libertarian candidate, will face Republican Jason Brodeur and Democrat Leo Cruz in the general election.