Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnams light energy package retained a spark of life Thursday as a bill was advanced, after some last-minute tweaking, to the Senate floor despite the powerful Budget Committee chairman still having questions about the plan.

While it's considered a more realistic proposal than prior energy efforts that have failed to advance through the Legislature or have seen little implementation due to overambitious aims, Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales said he wanted to give the complicated bill, SB 2094, more time to be worked on.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee jumped on Rep. Allen West for not supporting a year-old gasoline "price-gouging" bill. Energy Secretary Steven Chu apparently doesn't care.

"In the face of rising gas prices, Representative Allen West and his Grand Oil Party just voted against considering the Federal Price Gouging Prevention Act, which would empower the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general to penalize fuel price gouging," a snarky DCCC press release stated..

Fresh off his wins in the Arizona and Michigan primaries on Tuesday and enjoying a comfortable lead over his rivals for the GOP nomination, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney turned his fire back toward President Barack Obama on Thursday.

While he had been behind Rick Santorum in the national polls, a national poll unveiled on Thursday by Rasmussen Reports finds Romney has recaptured a solid lead.

A number of Senate Republicans, including Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, have been working to derail legislation aimed at meeting Gov. Rick Scotts call to shrink Citizens Property Insurance.

A vote on the bill was postponed for the third consecutive day on Thursday.

Still, Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, said an end could be in sight.

I believe the votes are there to pass it but it is very tight, Haridopolos said, speaking to reporters Thursday.

A national author of "anti-Sharia" legislation and an Islamic group can agree on one thing: A South Dakota bill prohibiting the enforcement of religious law is wrong-headed.

But the two remain on opposite sides of a Florida bill barring foreign laws in state courts. The bill, which cleared the Florida House 92-24 on Thursday, will be challenged in court if it becomes law, a Muslim leader said.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations this week called for the governor of South Dakota to veto that state's anti-Sharia Law legislation.

Democrats in control of the U.S. Senate rejected an amendment Thursday from U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., that would have permitted employers torefuse to cover health-care costs contrary to their religious beliefs -- mainly birth-control and abortion-inducing drugs. The amendment went down on a 51-48 vote.

The House and Senate are advancing separate reform packages for the states low-cost personal injury protection auto insurance that could be the last effort to reform the broken system.

The sponsor of the Senate bill says if the final reform package doesnt hold, the state may have to end the no-fault program that requires motorists to carry $10,000 worth of coverage, with insurance companies required to pay out regardless of who caused the accident.

OK, the door to power and prominence is about to close on Florida's term-limited legislators. It's a blow to the ego, I get it. But what's with the nauseating, never-ending farewell speeches?

The Florida House is poised to approve a plan to shut down Internet cafe games that critics compare to slot machines, but two key senators said Wednesday that such a ban would die in the Senate.

"I don't think the House's ban is going to get anywhere after it leaves the House, that's for sure,'' said Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, a Miami Republican who is sponsoring an alternative proposal to regulate Internet cafes.

The chances for the comprehensive but "realistic" energy package championed by Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, a topic neglected by legislators for several years, may be running out of juice as the session winds down.

Agriculture Department spokesman Sterling Ivey said that while Putnam hasnt been twisting arms to get the Legislature to approve its first energy plan since 2007, hes been meeting with members all week on the energy bill.

And he's going to keep trying.