With all eyes on Iowa, with a debate between the Republican presidential candidates and the straw poll in Ames on Saturday, pundits are starting to make picks about who will prevail.

Politico is reporting that Gov. Rick Perry of Texas will enter the Republican primary race, and will make the announcement during a speech in South Carolina on Saturday. Perrys announcement steals some of the thunder from the Iowa straw poll in Ames which most of the other candidates have been focusing on in recent weeks. Some of the candidates, namely Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, are not focusing on the event in Ames, giving an opportunity to the other hopefuls.

While most eyes in Washington were focused on the stalemate and finally the agreement to raise the federal debt ceiling, another story was developing. After almost four years of wrangling, it appears that the U.S. Senate and Congress will be ready to pass pending free-trade agreements (FTAs) with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. It looks like the measures will be passed when Congress returns to Washington in September.

Following on the heels of their credit rating downgrade for the U.S. government late Friday, Standard and Poor's on Monday downgraded government-backed mortgage financers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from AAA to AA+, CNN reports.

Former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, who is now running in the Republican primary to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012, unveiled a major endorsement on Monday from Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi.

"George is a solid conservative who served the people of Florida well in the U.S. Senate. I am happy to lend my support to his campaign, said Barbour, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) who some Republicans were hoping would enter the 2012 presidential race.

With all the economic problems last week -- from a wild ride on Wall Street to national unemployment remaining at more than 9 percent -- Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Connie Mack called for U.S. Treasurer Timothy Geithner to resign.

On Monday morning, former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner fired the latest shot in the battle for the Republican nomination to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012. Hasner and his team took aim at former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, who is also in the primary, for backing the Task Force For Responsible Fiscal Action which, they argue, is much like the joint committee that was set up after the recent debt-ceiling deal to make recommendations on how to cut spending.

Gov. Rick Scott, along with Department of Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad, announced a broad new vision Friday for Florida's infrastructure and transportation.

NASA launched the unmanned Juno spacecraft on an Atlas V rocket today, and it is now making its way to the planet Jupiter, where it is expected to arrive in July 2016.

The original launch time was 11:34 a.m. EDT, but it was delayed an hour because of a surge in unexpected electrical activity. But after clearing up the issue, as well as a boat that strayed too close to the launch pad, the rocket was launched.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., weighed in on Friday about the national unemployment rate dipping slightly from 9.2. percent in June to 9.1. percent in July.

"Although the debt has been the dominant issue in Washington, the biggest issue in the rest of America is the lack of jobs, and today's report further highlights this sad reality. Unfortunately, this report only tells part of the story, as nearly one in every five Americans are either unemployed, underemployed or have given up looking for work altogether, said Rubio.