While two polls have shown Attorney General Bill McCollum ahead of Rick Scott in the bitterly fought contest for the Republican gubernatorial nod, a new poll released on Friday, taken by Ispos and commissioned by the St. Petersburg Times and Miami Herald, has Scott ahead.

Here comes porn in the Senate again, but this time not Florida's ... The Associated Press, as well as other major national news organizations, is reporting that U.S. Senate candidate Alvin Greene is facing a felony charge of showing porn to a South Carolina college student.

After hippity-hopping back and forth on Arizona's immigration law -- it's too much ... no, not enough; we don't need it ... yeah, let's bring it -- Brer Bill McCollum, the Republican gubernatorial candidate-bunny, decided to propose his own, tougher version for Florida. What did Hispanics -- his largest supporters in the briar patch -- say?

While home prices continue to slide statewide, two regions posted gains in the second quarter. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville median home prices were up 12.7 percent while Cape Coral-Fort Myers climbed 12 percent. Those were the eighth and 10th biggest increases nationwide. The Florida Association of Realtors was not available to comment on the year-to-year gains, but the National Association of Realtors speculated that median prices rose because more buyers were steering clear of foreclosure fire sales.

Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, passionate about her love for the Everglades, Thursday said she was disappointed but not surprised by the South Florida Water Management District Board's unanimous vote to approve a twice down-sized U.S. Sugar deal. Bad deal for the River of Grass, she said. Bad deal for taxpayers, too.

On Thursday, former Tallahassee Mayor Scott Maddox, the Democratic candidate to be Floridas next commissioner of agriculture and consumer services, attended the Farm to Fuel Summit in Orlando. Florida has failed to adequately invest in our agriculture base including new technologies to help shepherd Florida agriculture into new areas such as organic farming and other sustainable practices that will keep jobs in our state while giving us a competitive advantage over oversees growers, said Maddox.

A new poll from Mason-Dixon has Attorney General Bill McCollum regaining the lead over health-care executive Rick Scott in the race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. The new poll had McCollum at 34 percent and Scott at 30 percent -- a dramatic change from a week ago when the poll had Scott up 37 to 31. The poll of Republican voters surveyed from Aug. 9-11 had a margin of error of +/- 5 percent.

Noting that unemployment has risen dramatically since the Democrats took control of Congress after the 2006 elections, Karen Harrington, one of the Republicans in the primary to take on U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, came out swinging at the incumbent on Thursday.

On Thursday morning, Jeff Greene took a shot at U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, his chief rival for the Democratic nomination in the U.S. Senate race, saying that the congressman was milking taxpayers to pay for his car.

Nationally prominent conservative leader Phyllis Schlafly, founder of the Eagle Forum, backed Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp for attorney general on Thursday. Kottkamp is running in a tight Republican primary against former Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi and former Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Holly Benson.

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek is attempting to rally the Democratic base in an effort to win the primary election on Aug. 24 over Jeff Greene. Besides proclaiming the announcement of the National Organization of Women on Thursday, Meek launched a new ad -- highlighting the fact that President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton are backing his campaign. Look for Meek to push this even harder in the next two weeks, especially as Obama will be in Florida this coming weekend and will be holding a fund-raiser in South Florida for the state party on Aug. 18.

Former House Speaker Marco Rubio, the likely Republican candidate in the U.S. Senate election, took aim at U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reids recent comments wondering how Hispanics could back Republican candidates over immigration. On Fox News, Rubio ripped into Reid and defended the GOP.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott will join Tea Party activists this morning (Thursday) in West Palm Beach to protest the so-called "Big Sugar Bailout" by the South Florida Water Management District. SFWMD's board is considering a 28,000-acre, $197 million purchase of U.S. Sugar lands as part of Everglades restoration. Opponents contend that the purchase is politically driven and environmentally questionable. But Scott is entering a political swamp himself as various tea groups bicker over their respective agendas and authenticity.

Here's a real-estate bubble everyone should have seen bursting: vacation homes in Okeechobee priced at $2 million and up. Sure enough, the Pine Creek Sporting Club is drastically shrinking its floor plans and pricing to better fit the financial times. Instead of 5,000-square-foot estate homes, the developer is now shopping cabins less than one-third that size. Prices are dropping accordingly, down to $600,000.

Thursday marks the 112th anniversary of the armistice that ended the Spanish-American War in 1898.While the conflict had its dramatic moments (Admiral Dewey sailing into Manila Bay and Theodore Roosevelt leading the Rough Riders up San Juan Hill), for the most part America has forgotten what Secretary of State John Hay labeled a splendid little war that lasted four months and cost the lives of less than 400 soldiers and sailors in battle -- though more than 2,500 soldiers and sailors died of disease.