WASHINGTON -- New Republican legislators should come down Capitol

Hill to the National Museum of American History, which displays a device that in 1849 was granted U.S. patent 6469. It enabled a boat's "draught of water to be readily lessened" so it could "pass over bars, or through shallow water." The patentee was from Sangamon County, Ill. Across Constitution Avenue, over the Commerce Department's north entrance, are some words of the patentee, Abraham Lincoln:

A Leon County judge upheld the Legislatures ability to set tuition for the states 11 public universities, knocking down a challenge from former Gov. Bob Graham who thought the Board of Governors should control university costs.

While Florida is the fourth largest state and a battleground every presidential election, neither of the major parties has ever included a Floridian on its presidential tickets. There are plenty of reasons for this -- Florida was a member of the Solid South after Reconstruction and took decades to develop, for example. But one of those reasons is that rising political stars from the Sunshine State quickly fizzle.

Gov.-elect Rick Scott will roll into office on the heels of a series of inaugural events that will feature national news personalities, performance artists and high school bands from throughout Florida. The events will be a celebration of his electoral victory, but some will also be reminders of the states 12 percent unemployment rate and his recipe for recovery.

Gov. Charlie Crist started 2010 as a Republican, and the favorite to be the partys nominee for U.S. Senate.

Take a good look at the Florida Main Street program. It's sneaky clever. It's all about preserving the character and vitality of decaying downtowns -- and that would be reason enough to love it -- but here's the big bonus: It pumps cash like a wildcat well into all 50 Main Street communities.

2010 may have been an encouraging year for political conservatives, but it wasn't so rosy for America's culture. The most depressing result was the Second Circuit Court of Appeals granting our television networks the right to employ the nastiest curse words in front of children at any hour of the broadcast day.

With 2010 almost ready to be counted out, one of the years top Florida stories Republican Rick Scotts election will turn a new page, morphing into one of the New Years first major political events.