Former President of the Florida Senate Ken Pruitt is running for St. Lucie County property appraiser in a special election. The Republican lawmaker-turned-governmental-affairs-consultant is looking to step into the position in place of Jeffrey Furst, who died of a stroke last week.

Qualifying for the position is set for Thursday.

Rick Scott, the front-runner for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, released a new radio ad, calling on the Legislature to pass an immigration reform measure during nextweek's special session, like the one backed by Arizona.

Lets Get to Work Florida, a 527 organization that is supporting Republican gubernatorial hopeful Rick Scott, released a new video attacking Attorney General Bill McCollum, Scotts main rival for the GOP nomination. The ad hammers McCollum for switching positions on issues ranging from stem cell research to immigration laws. The ad closes with speculation of what McCollum would try to do to keep up with Scott, and then shows a photo of McCollum with no hair -- shades of Scotts increasingly famous bald head.

A new pollreleased Tuesday by Reuters and Ipsos shows Gov. Charlie Crist leading the race for the U.S. Senate seat while Rick Scott is the favorite in the gubernatorial race.

The poll has independent candidate Crist at 35 percent while former House Speaker Marco Rubio, the likely Republican nominee, places second with 28 percent. U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, who is facing a tough primary fight for the Democratic nomination from billionaire financier Jeff Greene, pulled 17 percent.

When Meek is replaced by Greene, Crist leads Rubio 34 percent to 29 percent.

Rudy Moise, running in a crowded Democratic primary to replace U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek in Congress, has launchedhis first television ad. The winner of the Aug. 24 primary will face an independent in November; no Republican candidate made the final ballot.

At the steps of the old Capitol to launch a new organization to register African-American and Caribbean voters across Florida, Sen. Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville, weighed in on a number of topics, including the special session of the Legislature next week, extension of unemployment benefits and the need for an Arizona-style law on immigration in the Sunshine State.

Hill disagreed with Gov. Charlie Crists proposal to limit the session to focusing on forwarding a proposed constitutional amendment to the voters which would ban oil drilling in state waters.

Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hallandale Beach, endorsed Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, over Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, in the close Democratic primary battle for the attorney general nomination.

As a state senator, I have served with both AG candidates in this race. I have chosen to support Dave Aronberg because he has dedicated his entire career to public safety and consumer protection -- and has the results to prove it, said Sobel.

Former House Speaker Marco Rubio, the likely Republican nominee in the U.S. Senate race, said that America faces a crucial decision between continuing to follow the capitalist system or whether to embrace some form of government control in the economy.

Behind in the polls and short on cash, Republican gubernatorial candidate Attorney General Bill McCollums campaign, trying to catch up with Rick Scott, trumpeted an endorsement from Quin Hillyer, an editorial writer with the conservative Washington Times.

BP has placed a tighter cap on the leaking oil well estimated to be spilling as much as 60,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico daily. The company says that it could take two days to determine if the cap, which BP has said will contain the leak completely, is working.

A permanent solution to the spill won't come until August, when BP completes two relief wells. The company is saying that project is still on schedule.