U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio joined other prominent Florida Republicans in hammering the proposed budget unveiled by President Barack Obama on Monday.

Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw had harsh words for the fiscal year 2013 budget proposed by President Barack Obama which would delay adding a nuclear aircraft carrier to Mayport on the First Coast. Mayport was expected to serve as the homeport for a carrier in 2019 -- but this may change according to the proposed budget.

As expected on Monday, at a media event in Hialeah, Republican Senate hopeful U.S. Rep. Connie Mack unveiled the support of three of his congressional colleagues -- Mario Diaz-Balart, David Rivera and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen -- and former U.S.Rep.Lincoln Diaz-Balart.

Mitt Romney carried Michigan by 9 percent over John McCain in the 2008 Republican primary -- but a poll unveiled on Monday finds that Romney could lose the 2012 primary on Feb. 28 to Rick Santorum.

Santorum leads in Michigan, the state where Romneys father served as governor, according to a poll by American Research Group. The poll has Santorum out front with 33 percent followed by Romney with 27 percent, Newt Gingrich with 21 percent and Ron Paul with 12 percent. Six percent remain undecided and 1 percent back other candidates.

Arizona will be in the spotlight in the coming days as Republicans duke it out in the Grand Canyon States Feb. 28 presidential primary. But, according to this blog from the Arizona Republic, Barack Obamas team is looking to make a push to carry it in 2012. Obama lost Arizona by 9 points in 2008 -- but then John McCain was a favorite son of the state.

Niger Innis -- the son of Roy Innis, the president of the Congress of Racial Equality, and a spokesman for the group -- announced over the weekend that he is backing Joe Kaufman for the Republican nomination to take on U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., in November. Wasserman Schultz is chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney launched a pre-emptive strike against President Barack Obamas budget on Monday -- even before the Democrat incumbent unveiled it. Romney pointed to Obamas record on fiscal matters, arguing that it showed he would not even attempt to tackle federal entitlements.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has been one of the leading critics of the Department of Health and Human Services' mandate that employers must provide birth-control coverage -- even companies affiliated with religious institutions opposed to birth control.

Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania may have come in third place in the Florida Republican presidential primary but a new poll shows that he is doing better against President Barack Obama than former Gov. Mitt Romney in the Sunshine State.

A Rasmussen Reports of likely voters in Florida, released on Friday, finds Santorum in a dead heat with Obama. The Democrat incumbent takes 47 percent with Santorum right behind him with 46 percent. Four percent back other candidates while 4 percent are undecided.

From his perch on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio reached out across the aisle to U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, Jr., D-Pa., to introduce a resolution calling for Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad to step down and for the Obama administration to help efforts to bring democracy to that nation.