Expected cost overruns for the Obama administration's "Affordable Health Care Act" are kicking in even before the controversial program rolls out.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has earmarked some $200 million for a multimedia marketing campaign to promote Obamacare.

According to government documents obtained by Judicial Watch, HHS' assistant secretary for public affairs issued a series of contracts for public-relations work -- even as a federal judge in Florida declared Obamacare unconstitutional.

Whatever you think about raising America's debt ceiling, there's a stunning contrast between the credit-challenged U.S. government and the soaring profits of U.S. multinational corporations.

Sorry, liberals, this is not a call for more taxes on greedy, rapacious corporations. At 35 percent, the federal tax rate is already the highest in the world.

But the ironic spectacle of robust private profits in the face of continued record borrowing by the public sector deserves some attention as Wall Street executives demand yet another lifting of the U.S. debt limit.

Saying he will decide in the next month whether to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, spoke to the Tallahassee media Thursday during his visit to the capital to promote his new book, "Liberty Defined: 50 Essential Issues That Affect Our Freedom."

Paul was a Libertarian candidate in 1988. He came in second in 10 GOP primaries and caucuses and placed third in 17 of them in 2008. He said he will consider running and reveal his decision in the next month.

Not all of the GOP's incomers in the 2011 Legislature were rookies. Two veteran lawmakers who term-limited out of their House seats are back this session, and they're doing some heavy lifting.

Rep. Dennis Baxley chairs the Criminal Justice Subcommittee, where he is leading the Republican charge to reform Florida's sprawling criminal justice system.

"We want to go from being tough on crime, to being right on crime," said Baxley, whose committee bills are focusing on substance abuse, mental health and recidivism.