Since entering the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination in June, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota has surged in national polls and surveys of key states -- and a new poll has her leading the pack in Iowa, home of the first caucus. Previous polls had shown Romney, who placed second in the caucus when he ran in 2008, ahead of the field in Iowa.

A new poll unveiled on Sunday, commissioned by TheIowaRepublican.com and taken by Voter/Consumer Research, reveals that Bachmann has moved ahead of former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts in the Hawkeye State.

Craig Miller, the former CEO of Ruths Chris who ran for the Republican nomination for a Central Florida congressional seat in 2010, is expected Tuesday to announce that he is entering an already crowded primary to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012.

Miller, a Vietnam veteran, has expressed interest in entering the race since early May. Besides touring the state since first leaving the door open, Miller has met with Republican leaders in Washington. They have made Nelson, who is seeking a third term, one of their top targets in the 2012 election cycle.

All animals are equal except for some animals ... that's a theme in George Orwell's "Animal Farm" and it's certainly the major theme of Rep. Pat Rooney's elitist and unnecessary funeral bill.

In conjunction with Voter Survey Service (VSS) of Harrisburg, Pa., Sunshine State News will release the results and analyses of its first three Florida polls of the year on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

VSS is the same firm that in 2010 conducted some of the most accurate polls taken of races in the Florida primary and general election.

Not a happy morning, waking up Saturday to discover Betty Ford had died at the age of 93. Ive lost one of my heroes.

After paying more than $4.6 billion to private citizens and businesses since the Deepwater Horizon spill, BP officials have told federal overseers that the Gulf Coast economy is mostly back on its feet and therefore the company should not have to pay for most new losses going forward.

In a letter to the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, which has been set up to reimburse people and businesses for spill-related costs, BP says that future claims should be limited to the small minority of applicants whose businesses have not rebounded.

Washington -- A debt crisis is a terrible thing to waste in a presidential election season, and Democrats and Republicans alike are responding on cue.

Some of us called it the man-cession. In the deep recession that lasted from December 2007 to June 2009, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, many more men than women lost their jobs.