The Republican National Committee pounced on a piece in The Hill posted in the Washington, D.C., publication Wednesday, which runs down the differences between President Barack Obama and Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, a congresswoman from Weston.

Keep an eye on conservative First Coast activist Kim Kendall. Kendall has filed to run as a Republican for the state House seat currently held by Rep. Mike Weinstein, R-Jacksonville, which represents parts of Clay, Duval and St. Johns counties. With redistricting taking place in early 2012, Kendall, who lives in the northern part of St. Johns County, may be moved over to the House seat currently held by term-limited Rep. Bill Proctor, R-St. Augustine.

Former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, now in a crowded Republican primary field to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012, is looking to make political hay out of the last space shuttle flight which is scheduled for Friday.

This Friday is schedule to be Titusvilles last shuttle flight, noted LeMieux on Tuesday. As a U.S. senator, I will fight for NASA and the 23,000 space jobs. Unfortunately, Senator Nelson and President Obama are content to let these jobs disappear.

The next three speakers of the Florida House announced on Wednesday that they were backing former Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

Incoming Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, backed Pawlenty and was named a co-chair of the state Pawlenty team, while Rep. Chris Dorworth, R-Heathrow, and Rep. Richard Corcoran, R-New Port Richey, will serve as regional chairmen of the campaign.

One of the big endorsements the various Republican presidential candidates will be looking to reel in during the months to come will be that of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee who won the Iowa caucus back in 2008. Its no surprise, then, that former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlentys camp is going all out to highlight the fact that they added Huckabees daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, to their team on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Gov. Rick Scott focused on veterans' issues during an appearance at the Armed Forces Military Museum in Largo. Scott praised the Legislature for passing property tax cuts for active duty military in Florida, discounted park fees for wounded veterans and families of fallen servicemen and the creation of the Florida Veterans Hall of Fame which will be in the Capitol.

A new Gallup poll released Tuesday shows President Barack Obama's approval rating declining among Jewish Americans. He dropped to 60 percent in June, down from 68 percent in May.

Gallup notes that the decline from May reflects a downward shift among the country as a whole in Obama's approval rating, chiefly due to the brief bounce in numbers he received from the killing of Osama bin Laden on May 1.

From his perch as chairman of the U.S. House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Connie Mack weighed in on Friday over the news that Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez had cancer. Mack slammed Chavez -- and took aim at President Barack Obamas policies in regard to Venezuela.

Marist released a poll on Friday that showed that many Americans are in the dark on their own history.

The poll found 58 percent of Americans knew that the United States declared its independence in 1776 while 26 percent had no idea and 16 percent said other years. Not surprisingly, younger Americans are the most ignorant group with only 31 percent of those surveyed under 30 knowing the correct year was 1776. We can take some comfort as a nation in the fact that 76 percent of those surveyed at least knew the United States declared independence from Great Britain.

July 1-3 this year marks the 148th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg, the pivotal conflict in the Civil War. While the story has been told over and over again -- from the stand of the 20th Maine under Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain at Little Round Top, to Picketts Charge -- its easy to overlook the role of the Florida Brigade, nominally under the command of Gen. Edward Perry, who went on to serve as governor in the 1880s.