A poll unveiled by Viewpoint Florida on Friday revealed that voters in the Sunshine State on the whole were content with the deal to raise the federal debt ceiling. A majority of those surveyed -- 58 percent --said they would be more likely to back congressional incumbents who voted to raise the debt ceiling, while 36 percent said they were less likely to back them.

The team behind former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, now running in the Republican primary to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012, went on the attack on Friday, bashing Nelson for taking part in a fundraiser hosted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in Lake Tahoe.

Two of the Republicans looking to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012 weighed in on the newly named members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.

The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction was set up as part of the deal to break up the stalemate in Washington over raising the federal debt ceiling. The new committee consists of six members of each party, divided equally between senators and congressmen.

While some pundits -- namely, one who used to live down the street from the candidate in Moorestown, N.J. -- thought that Herman Cain needed to do more in the Republican debate on Thursday, a much bigger name was impressed with the former CEO of Godfathers Pizza (yes, Vanilla Ice is a bigger name than your humble blogger, but I bet he can't name every president and vice president in order).

Supporters of U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota are looking to rally conservatives behind their candidate by launching a quick strike against a candidate who has not officially entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

While Floridians can be excused if their focus was on other matters on Thursday night -- namely, the Jacksonville Jaguars being utterly routed by the New England Patriots in their first NFL pre-season game -- the debate held in Iowa by the various Republican presidential candidates marked the state of a different stage of the contest. For the first time, the Republican hopefuls went after each other, and there were some interesting clashes between the various candidates.

On Thursday, former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, now in the Republican primary looking to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012, unloaded on President Barack Obama and Floridas senior senator on the economy.

With the 12 members of the bicameral supercommittee named and looking to cut federal spending, a Florida Republican renewed his call to ensure all of the new bodys meetings would be open to the public.

Saying personal injury protection (PIP) fraud is driving up auto insurance premiums in Florida, the state's Insurance Consumer Advocate Robin Westcott announced Thursday she is creating a work group dedicated to developing solutions to the problem.

"My goal is to formulate real solutions in response to the escalating rates burdening Florida's consumers. Every option should be on the table before car insurance becomes completely unaffordable and Floridians opt to go without protection," said ICA Westcott.

State Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando, asked Speaker Dean Cannon Thursday for expenditure records related to a lawsuit the House is waging against a Fair Districts constitutional amendment approved by voters last year.