On Tuesday night, Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio spoke at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library as he continued a swing through California, raising his national profile and speculation that he is angling for the vice presidential spot on the 2012 Republican ticket.

Praising Reagans leadership, Rubio took aim at the size and scope of the federal government.

A poll unveiled on Tuesday revealed that President Barack Obama is in serious trouble in Florida as he seeks re-election in 2012.

On Tuesday, the American Conservative Union (ACU)announced that Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, one of the leading candidates in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, will be speaking to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) event that will be held in Orlando on Friday, Sept. 23.

Rasmussen Reports unveiled a new poll on Tuesday that found U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, would be in a statiscal dead heat with President Barack Obama in the general election.

Paul, who is making his second bid for the Republican nomination, took 38 percent of likely voters -- only a whisker behind Obama who had the backing of 39 percent. In a Rasmussen poll released in July, Obama beat Paul 41 percent to 37 percent.

Attorney General Pam Bondi applauded the ruling of the Florida Supreme Court Tuesday to uphold a lower court ruling that denied a stay of execution to Manuel Valle, convicted of murdering a police officer in Broward County in 1978. He had appealed that one of the drugs used in the lethal injection process would violate the Eighth Amendment's protection from "cruel and unusual" punishment.

A poll unveiled on Tuesday from Public Policy Polling (PPP), a firm with connections to prominent Democrats, found Gov. Rick Perry of Texas leading the Republican pack in Iowa, home of the first caucus.

Perry topped the poll with 22 percent followed by former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts with 19 percent. U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who won the Iowa straw poll in Ames earlier in the month, placed third with 18 percent followed by U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who placed second in Ames, with 16 percent.

Democratic congressional candidate Patrick Murphy is taking aim at the tea party movement as he continues his bid to knock off Republican U.S. Rep. Allen West in South Florida.

Murphy is trying to raise funds for his campaign by selling coffee mugs for $10 with Keep your tea bags out of this cup and Keep the tea party out of Congress.

The stay of execution imposed on death row inmate Manuel Valle, a convicted cop killer, has been lifted by the Florida Supreme Court.

Valle, who has spent more than 30 years on death row for murdering a police officer in Broward County in 1978, appealed for the stay, claiming a switch in one drug in the three-drug cocktail used by Florida for lethal injections would subject him to pain, consituting a violation of the Eighth Amendment's protection against "cruel and unusual" punishment.

Six of Floridas Catholic bishops -- Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, Bishop Gerald Barbarito of Palm Beach, Bishop Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg, Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice, Bishop John Noonan of Orlando and Bishop Felipe Estez of St. Augustine -- wrote Gov. Rick Scott appealing to him to stay the execution of Manuel Valle, a convicted cop killer who has been on death row for more than 30 years. The Florida Supreme Court issued a stay in July due to concerns about the drugs that were going to be used to execute Valle.