Nationally prominent conservative leader Phyllis Schlafly, founder of the Eagle Forum, backed Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp for attorney general on Thursday. Kottkamp is running in a tight Republican primary against former Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi and former Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Holly Benson.

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek is attempting to rally the Democratic base in an effort to win the primary election on Aug. 24 over Jeff Greene. Besides proclaiming the announcement of the National Organization of Women on Thursday, Meek launched a new ad -- highlighting the fact that President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton are backing his campaign. Look for Meek to push this even harder in the next two weeks, especially as Obama will be in Florida this coming weekend and will be holding a fund-raiser in South Florida for the state party on Aug. 18.

Former House Speaker Marco Rubio, the likely Republican candidate in the U.S. Senate election, took aim at U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reids recent comments wondering how Hispanics could back Republican candidates over immigration. On Fox News, Rubio ripped into Reid and defended the GOP.

Thursday marks the 112th anniversary of the armistice that ended the Spanish-American War in 1898.While the conflict had its dramatic moments (Admiral Dewey sailing into Manila Bay and Theodore Roosevelt leading the Rough Riders up San Juan Hill), for the most part America has forgotten what Secretary of State John Hay labeled a splendid little war that lasted four months and cost the lives of less than 400 soldiers and sailors in battle -- though more than 2,500 soldiers and sailors died of disease.

Building on a point raised in Tuesday nights debate with U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, his chief rival for the Democratic nomination in the U.S. Senate election, billionaire investor Jeff Greene, continued to hammer Meek as an ineffectual congressman on Wednesday. Greene pointed out that not a single bill authored by Meek passed the House in his eight years in Congress and that he had voted three times for congressional pay raises.

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis celebrated the 75th anniversary of the passage of the Social Security Act of 1935, which created unemployment insurance. The act was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Aug. 14, 1935.

"Losing a job is never easy, said Solis. Workers facing layoffs wonder how they will continue to support their families while they find work or enter training that will lead to new careers.

At their meeting in Orlando, the Florida Feedstock Growers Association (FFGA) endorsed Republican candidate U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam to be the next state agriculture and consumer services commissioner.

Attorney General Bill McCollum, locked in a bitter contest with health-care executive Rick Scott for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, focused on immigration in Orlando on Wednesday, proposing a new law similar to a measure that passed in Arizona.

This legislation will provide new enforcement tools for protecting our citizens and will help our state fight the ongoing problems created by illegal immigration, said McCollum. Florida will not be a sanctuary state for illegal aliens.

On Wednesday, at a meeting in Orlando with the Florida Medical Association, former House Speaker Marco Rubio --the likely Republican nominee in the U.S. Senate election --touched on health care, offering 10 proposals to strike back against new federal health-care laws backed by President Barack Obama, which Rubio promised to repeal.

Wondering if independent Gov. Charlie Crist or former House Speaker Marco Rubio, the Republican candidate, is ahead in the battle for the U.S. Senate? Well, according to a poll released this morning by Rasmussen Reports, it depends on who prevails in the Democratic primary on Aug. 24.