Republican gubernatorial front-runner Rick Scott says he won't take the $130,000 salary if he becomes governor. The revelation came this morning on a Jacksonville radio talk show when Scott was asked point blank if he would.

"That's not important to me," he said. "I'm really not doing it for the salary."

A campaign spokesperson later added, "Rick is running for true reform and accountability in Tallahassee and not for compensation."

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Thursday that, with no oil in the area having been spotted for the last 30 days, they were reopening more than 26,000 miles to fishing. Most of the newly reopened area is southeast of the Deepwater Horizon spill off the coast of Florida -- between 190-220 miles away from where the spill originated.

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, currently in the middle of a bitter battle with Jeff Greene for the Democratic nomination in the U.S. Senate race, praised Congress for extending unemployment benefits on Thursday -- and turned his fire on the Republicans for looking to block the measure.

Joshua Green over at the Atlantic makes an excellent case for why former Gov. Jeb Bush represents the best candidate for Republicans looking to win the White House in 2012.

Green reviewed the pack and PACs of 2012 Republican hopefuls, noting that former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts hauled in the most money.

Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, announced two mayors were backing his bid to win the Democratic attorney general nomination on Thursday afternoon.

While recent polls show that Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running for the U.S. Senate without party affiliation, has built a lead over likely Republican candidate Marco Rubio, a poll released by Rasmussen Reports found the race was a toss-up -- and whether Crist or Rubio is ahead depends on which Democrat is at the bottom of the poll.

The poll had Rubio ahead with 35 percent, Crist in second with 33 percent and U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek --currently in a close primary battle with Jeff Greene for the Democratic nomination --at 20 percent.

Public Policy Polling keeps revealing its poll of Florida voters from July 16-18 in bits and pieces.

On Thursday,poll numbers from the hotly contested Republican gubernatorial primary battle and the fight for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate were revealed.

A day after the Legislature convened for a special session and quickly adjourned, Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Boynton Beach, sent a letter to Gov. Charlie Crist asking for yet another special session -- this time to deal with unemployment benefits. Rader, who is running for the Senate, sent a letter to Crist on Wednesday, imploring the governor to call another special session or to issue an executive order to take part in the extension of unemployment benefits that worked its way through the U.S. Senate this week.

Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, announced Thursday morning that he has more than $2.1 million in the bank for his CFO campaign. Atwater is the Republican candidate for CFO, having chased away all potential challengers.

Atwaters team announced that he had pulled in more than $245,000 in cash contributions during the second quarter of 2010 -- adding to an already impressive war chest.

The two leading candidates in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate election -- U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek and billionaire financier Jeff Greene -- will hold three debates in the coming weeks.

The first debate will be held on Sunday, Aug. 1 on Bay News 9 in the Tampa Bay area. The second will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 10 at WKMG in Orlando and will be shown across CBS stations in Florida. The last will be Sunday, Aug. 15 on WPLG in South Florida.