Florida's Presidency 5 straw poll looms ever-larger now that Rick Perry is in the race and Tim Pawlenty is out.

Pawlenty figured to make a strong showing in the Sept. 24 poll of 3,500 GOP delegates in Orlando. The former Minnesota governor had lined up support from top Sunshine State politicos, including the next three speakers of the Florida House, former Jeb Bush staffer and money man Phil Handy, and omnipresent political guru Justin Sayfie.

But when Pawlenty bowed out after finishing a distant third in the Iowa straw poll, the P5 field opened up.

Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe announced Monday that he is planning to enter the Republican primary to take on Democratic U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor.

"I am going to file the paperwork for the United States Congress District 11, Sharpe announced at a meeting in Tampa Monday morning.

The new candidates announcement was quickly forwarded by the Hillsborough County Republicans via Twitter.

Conservative writer and activist Marielena Montesino de Stuart entered the increasingly crowded Republican primary Mondayto take on Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012.

Born in Cuba,her family fled from Fidel Castros communist regime in the late 1960s after standing against that tyrannical government. Stuart, whose writings have regularly appearedonconservative website RenewAmerica, currently lives in Ave Maria.

I consider myself to be the conservative candidate in this race, Stuart told Sunshine State News on Monday.

The Senate and House spent their first full week enjoying the traditional August recess with a double digit number of CODELs (congressional delegations) touring the world and very few town hall meetings being scheduled.

No matter what happens in Wisconsin's next round of recall elections on Tuesday, Republicans will maintain control of that state's Legislature.