As the federal quarterly fundraising deadline of March 31 draws near, politicians across Florida running for Congress are scrambling to raise as much as possible this week. U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek is bringing out the big guns, starting off with a fundraising email from Bill Clinton.

Gov. Charlie Crist continued his Lincoln Day Dinner speaking tour Thursday night with a stop in Vero Beach. Crist's Indian River County appearance was advertised as a visit from "Governor Crist, not candidate Crist," but the campaigner just couldn't help himself. "I'm asking for your vote," he told the dinner audience. He then likened himself to Abe Lincoln, noting that the 16th president was trailing badly in his bid for re-election in 1864.

The House Rules & Calendar Committee dismissed the complaints filed by a Tea Party activist against incoming House minority leader Rep. Ron Saunders, D-Key West. Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, chairman of the committee, wrote a letter to James Barnes in response to allegations that Barnes filed against Saunders. Barnes claimed that Saunders raised campaign funds during the legislative session and that the House member filed incorrect reimbursements for travel and per diem expenses.

To steal a line from the classic song by the Monotones, who wrote the book of love? Apparently, a committee set up by the state of Florida. The Family Law Handbook contains all the details about how to get a divorce, but conservative critics say it has little about how to maintain a successful marriage. This could be changing. A bill calling for the appointment of a Marriage Education Committee consisting of family advocates to add marriage tips and recourses to the Handbook passed the Senate Judiciary Committee today by a unanimous vote.

Is the trial bar on the ropes? Today's House approval of contingency caps suggests that lawyers' clout at the Legislature may be waning. HB 437, which tightens the use and payment of private attorneys working on behalf of the state, passed 71-40. Similar bills have gone down to defeat in past sessions. Action now moves to the Senate, where companion measure, SB 712, awaits.

Sen. Thad Altman's push to prevent adoption agencies from asking prospective parents if they own guns made headway Thursday. Altman and gun rights advocates pointed out that social workers documenting people who own guns is a violation of Florida law and their second amendment rights. According to Altman, the questioning also made some prospective adoptive families decide against adopting U.S.-born children, because adoption agencies outside the U.S. don't ask.

The St. Joe Company has announced it will move its headquarters from Jacksonville to Panama City by the summer 2011. The company's new headquarters will be located adjacent to the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport, which is being built on 4,000 acres of land. "What this means to Panama City and the surrounding areas is jobs," Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Panama City, said. "This move signals that our region is poised for growth once Florida's economy gets back on track."

The House just passed legislation that allows the Senate president, House speaker and minority leaders to create Affiliated Party Committees, or "leadership funds" depending on who you ask.

Two losses for the trial lawyers in the Florida House. This morning, the House overwhelmingly voted in favor of measures to limit fees for lawyers working on behalf of the state outside the Attorney Generals office. House members on both sides invoked the tobacco lawsuit which brought the state $13 billion of which $3 billion ended up in attorney fees. Democrats, led by Rep. Perry Thurston, D-Plantation, argued that the proposal tied the hands of future attorney generals. The House voted to cap attorney fees 71-40.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was in Tallahassee last night as the keynote speaker for a Suwannee River Boy Scout Council fundraiser. Huckabee avoided politics and did not talk about either his 2008 presidential bid or his plans for 2012. The University Center Club event pulled in more than 330 attendees, who paid $250 a ticket.

Jacob Engels, the 17-year-old chairman of the Florida Federation of Teenage Republicans, has received a letter from Gov. Charlie Crist urging the group to support his U.S. Senate campaign. Many members are not yet eligible to vote, meaning if the governor is hoping to grow his base it may take a while before the votes come in.

U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, R-Fla., said from his Washington, D.C., office today that he opposes the Democrat-supported federal health care overhaul working its way through Congress. It's a costly bill that the nation lacks money to fund, and he said he hoped Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, D-New Smyrna Beach, and other Democratic members of Florida's Congressional delegation would vote down the proposal. "It's a bad bill for Florida," LeMieux said.

U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, R-Fla., said in a phone call from Washington, D.C., today that it wouldn't make sense for President Barack Obama to do nothing but repeat bad news during his April 15th visit to Florida to discuss a NASA budget that grounds the agency's return to the moon and jettisons 7,000 aerospace jobs. LeMieux said he plans to demand during the visit that the President promise that NASA will be given funding to return to the moon and then make the journey to Mars, and he wants the President to set a specific deadline for both goals.

As if the Securities Exchange Commission didn't have its hands full tracking down financial scammers, Chairwoman Mary Schapiro's crew is getting into global warming. In a recent vote, the SEC imposed climate-change disclosure requirements on publicly traded companies. That move heated up Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, who joined 20 of his House colleagues in condemning the move.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has rejected Florida's request for help in assessing damage caused by corrosive Chinese drywall, according to a letter from Phil May, FEMA's regional administrator in Atlanta. The letter said that the state's request doesn't meet the federal criteria for an emergency or major disaster and thus cannot be granted. ``Conditions experienced by individuals from a consumer product safety matter, such as the degradation of imported drywall, does not constitute an emergency or major disaster incident,'' said May