An American Research Group poll released Thursday shows former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich holding a commanding lead in Florida over the rest of the pack of Republican presidential candidates.

It's the third poll released this week that finds Gingrich dominating the rest of the field in the Sunshine State, which holds its primary on Jan. 31, putting itfourth in the procession of states that will determine who will challenge President Barack Obama in 2012.

Restaurant executive Craig Miller, now running in a crowded Republican primary field to challenge Democrat incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012, unveiled two additions to his campaign team as he looks to turn around low poll numbers.

On Thursday, Miller announced that veteran Republican operative and political strategist Kevin Doyle would join his team based out of Jacksonville and that political consultant Brock Mikosky would work on the campaign out of Tampa.

When port supporters talk about gearing Florida up for the anticipated growth of shipping due to the widening of the Panama Canal, ground zero is Port of Miami.

The attention has been on the $77 million that Gov. Rick Scott directed toward the dredging of the harbor to capture the super freighters expected to stream through a widened Panama Canal starting in 2014.

But that work is only one of three major projects that have been in the works for more than a decade at the cargo and cruise hotspot.

Congressman Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, has become the sixth House member from the Florida delegation to sign on to the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act.

Sens. Bill Nelson, D-Orlando, and Marco Rubio, R-Miami, have also joined similar efforts.

The House bill prohibits members of Congress, their staff and federal employees from trading in the stock market on information obtain in closed-door meetings.

For Florida Supreme Court justices, the numbers are familiar: 5-2.

The court in recent months has split by that margin on a series of cases, with Chief Justice Charles Canady and Justice Ricky Polston siding together and offering conservative --- and sometimes stinging --- dissents.

The cases have included controversial issues such as injury lawsuits against businesses, Gov. Rick Scott's attempt to exert more control over state rule-making and, in a few instances, death sentences.