Floridas political history has been shaped by many different people -- the French, English, Spanish, Cuban, African-American, Puerto Rican, Yankees, Southerners and more. While Florida politics are not as Celtic-influenced as, say, those of Boston or New York, there have been a few leaders with Irish roots reigning over the Sunshine State.

One Florida politician in particular -- no, not former U.S. Rep. Andy Ireland -- deserves our attention on St. Patricks Day.

A poll from Rasmussen Reports unveiled on Wednesday finds Democrat incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in jeopardy as he seeks a third term in November.

The poll of likely voters finds Republican U.S. Rep. Connie Mack with a solid lead over Nelson despite the incumbents four decades on the Florida political stage. Mack takes 43 percent, while Nelson trails with 36 percent, 16 percent remain undecided and 5 percent more back other candidates. A Rasmussen poll released last month found the race between the two a tie, with both candidates taking 41 percent each.

Earlier: Close Battles Loom in Alabama, Mississippi.

As the Republican presidential race turned to Alabama and Mississippi on Tuesday, two states almost assured to rally behind whoever emerges with the GOP nomination in November, Rick Santorum won both states by small margins over Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney.

With 79 percent of the votes counted, Santorum won Alabama, which had 50 delegates on the line, with 35 percent, followed by Gingrich with 30 percent and Romney with 28 percent. Ron Paul trailed with 5 percent.

Try to stay on the page, candidates. Who uses a teleprompter and who doesn't is not a campaign issue. America doesn't care.

Trying to transform Medicaid into a statewide managed-care program, Florida health officials face dozens of questions from the federal government about how the plan would work.

The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services sent a list of questions in January, more than five months after Florida submitted proposals to shift hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries into HMOs and other managed-care plans.

PHOENIX -- Sal DiCiccio says hes sorry. It is, he says, no excuse that the complex labor contracts that he, as a member of the city council, voted to ratify for city employees were presented to the council less than a week before the vote.

Amid growing public disgust with partisan gridlock in Congress, a "No Budget, No Pay" bill will be heard by a Senate committee Wednesday.

The measure would withhold congressional pay if members fail to pass spending bills and the budget on time, say sponsors Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn.

This is an historic moment for Congress, said Bill Galston, co-founder of the bipartisan group, No Labels.

Florida Democrats may use the coming redrawing of state Senate districts to renew their court challenge to the proposed House redistricting map -- even though the state Supreme Court last week ruled the House plan valid.

Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith told reporters in a teleconference call Tuesday that the party is waiting for direction from their attorneys, as well as input from other opposition groups regarding the House map.

Pennsylvania holds its Republican presidential primary on April 24 -- and Mitt Romney is trying to pry away some of the Keystone States 72 delegates from favorite son Rick Santorum.

On Tuesday, Romney announced that he had won the backing of some of Pennsylvanias leading Republicans, including three congressmen: Charlie Dent, Jim Gerlach and Bill Shuster.

If you fly across the country, its easy to see signs of Americas ingenuity and productivity skyscrapers in New York City, steel mills in Pennsylvania, factories in Chicago, farmland in the Great Plains, and the glittering technology of Silicon Valley.