As Florida heads into another hurricane season, the state has a friend in Washington. A knowledgeable and storm-savvy friend.

Craig Fugate, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), was battle-tested when he served as Gov. Jeb Bush's director of emergency operations. During Fugate's tenure from 2001 to 2009, Florida was wracked by an unprecedented series of storms, including back-to-back hurricanes that slammed into the peninsula's east coast in 2004.

The Republican Party needs Marco Rubio on its 2012 ticket.

Conventional wisdom among the media elites (and their self-reinforcing polls) is that President Barack Obama is unbeatable. It's an odd, even disconnected, line of thought, considering $4 gas, high unemployment and an economy that continues to slump.

With the likes of Mike Huckabee, Mitch Daniels and Donald Trump announcing earlier in the month that they would not seek the Republican presidential nomination, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas opened the door perhaps for a run of his own.

Asked on Friday if he would consider running for the Republican nomination, Perry replied, Im going to think about it. He added that he would focus on it after the Texas Legislature leaves Austin sometime after Tuesday.

Gov. Rick Scott's $615 million cut through line-item vetoes before signing the 2011-12 budget Thursday is drawing heat from Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike. But budget hawks and fiscal conservatives are praising the governor for his tough decisions.

Although $305 million of the cuts were gained through phantom savings -- Scott dropped Florida Forever funding that was to come from land sales that haven't yet happened -- another large chunk can be attributed to Florida TaxWatch.

MSNBC radio and cable talk show host Ed Schultz calls himself "The Nation's No. 1 Progressive Voice."

This week, he progressed to the Misogynist Hall of Fame with his radio reference to fellow opinionator Laura Ingraham as a slut. Schultz managed to use the word twice in one sentence, which is one time more than would have gotten past anybody's kindergarten teacher.