Floridas leading Republican families are starting to take sides in the primary race to determine who will challenge Democrat incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in November -- as scions of the Bush and Rooney dynasties backed different candidates on Friday.

At a media event in Coral Gables on Friday, Republican Senate hopeful Congressman Connie Mack, whose father held the Senate seat that Nelson currently holds, won the endorsement of Jeb Bush Jr.

New maps for Florida's congressional districts have candidates scrambling for seats across the Sunshine State.

The decennial game of political musical chairs was amplified by the addition of two districts and the anti-gerrymandering requirements of Fair Districts.

As a result, some incumbents were shifted out of their existing districts. And Republicans, who hold 19 of Florida's 26 congressional seats, were the most affected.

Opponents of the effort to expand casino gaming in Florida declared victory Friday, but anticipate they will next have to fend off an effort to put gambling venues into the states Constitution.

Dan Gelber, chairman of No Casinos, said with casino-giant Genting Group having spent $624,000 on just political contributions through December, the proposal to allow the construction of nontribal mega-casinos isnt going away.

After his big win in Florida on Tuesday, Republican hopeful Mitt Romney is looking to move beyond the primary and caucus battle to focus his fire on President Barack Obama -- though, of course, there are still three GOP candidates standing in the way of him and the partys nomination.

Romney jabbed Obama on Friday responding to the news that the national unemployment rate dipped from 8.5 percent in December to 8.3 percent in January.

With President Barack Obama likely facing a tough battle in November, speculation continues to build that hell dump Joe Biden as his running mate and replace him with a more popular Democrat -- namely Hillary Clinton. But history shows that replacing the vice president does little for an incumbent president and some experts are betting that the O and Joe pairing will once again top the Democratic ticket.

As a longtime fan and admirer of Rush Limbaugh, I was disappointed to hear his comments regarding the work of the Congressional Redistricting Subcommittee on which I am honored to serve.

Breaking with their counterparts at the state's universities, presidents at a handful of Florida colleges urged lawmakers to be cautious about any moves that could push tuition upward.

The comments came in testimony before the House Education Committee, which is working to hammer out a set of recommendations on how to overhaul the state's higher education system.

After his fourth-place showing in Florida, Ron Paul, by then in Nevada, told supporters he had been advised by friends that he would do better if only he dumped his foreign policy views, which have been derided as isolationism.

Republicans could go three-for-three this fall in a trio of newly drawn congressional districts in South Florida, but Democrats contend that their chances improved there under reapportionment.

The Florida Legislature kicked off a round of musical chairs when it created the sprawling 17th Congressional District to encompass portions of eight counties surrounding Lake Okeechobee.