Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll and space executives are in Europe this week to drum up high-tech and aerospace business for the state.

Carroll and Space Florida President Frank DiBello will meet with members of the British Parliament on Monday to discuss future scientific ventures. Agenda items include formalizing Memorandums of Understanding to enhance partnerships in small satellite development, agricultural biotech and genetics, and health research for the elderly.

Senate President Mike Haridopolos is defending the states prison privatization effort as being conducted openly in the sunshine, as a decision is expected soon whether the state will appeal a circuit judges rejection of the jail maintenance plans.

Haridopolos contends the legislative directive was heard by legislative committees before being included in the budget prior to the approval of the fiscal plan.

Three of the dark-horse candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, all of them former governors, have placed their bets on New Hampshire as they look to score a breakthrough in the Granite State, which hosts the first presidential primary. Long shots have done well in New Hampshire before, as the likes of Eugene McCarthy, George McGovern, Paul Tsongas and Pat Buchanan scored well in the Granite State during their presidential bids.

With former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announcing last week that she was not entering the Republican presidential race, former Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah appeared on The View on ABC on Thursday and bashed the way she handled her exit. You string people along, Huntsman told the hosts. Everybody who has anything to do with politics knew she wasnt going to get in the race. She has a profit proposition, shes got a business. She makes money doing what shes doing. Who on earth is going to leave that for the uncertainty of presidential politics? ...

Over the past couple of weeks, the president has been criss-crossing the country politicking about his $447 billion stimulus/jobs bill and calling out the congressional GOP membership for not conducting a vote on it.

Occupying the steps of the old courthouse in downtown Tampa, raucous protesters chanted "This is Our House" Thursday night after a daylong "Occupy Tampa" demonstration.

More than 500 people massed at Lykes Gaslight Park for a downtown march that followed along the lines of the Occupy Wall Street protests entering their third week in New York City.

The tea party group that opened a "headquarters" in the Florida Senate building on Thursday says it intends to stay put for the 2012 session.

"This isn't the country club it used to be. We have the lowly people walking the hallways, and it's upsetting the apple cart," Tea Party Network leader Patricia Sullivan said.

Shortly after Sunshine State News reported on the tea party's open house at Room 227 of the Senate office building, opponents raised concerns about the propriety of a private group staking a claim to public space.

Make no mistake about it. Both Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich know exactly what they are doing.