Florida is set to collect $700 million for its schools, the U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday, naming the Sunshine State one of 10 winners in the second round of its $4.35 billion Race to the Top competition.

For South Florida voters, who have a history of unintentionally voting for the wrong candidates, the Republican primary ballot in state Senate District 36 could prove to be a challenge.

Fueled by a stratospheric $100 million in spending, candidates topping the primary ballot Monday barnstormed the state in a last-ditch push for voters with polls showing the Republican governors contest tightening and the Democratic battle for U.S. Senate tilting decidedly toward U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek.

Like many Democrats over the past 40 years, Barack Obama has hoped that his association with unpopular liberal positions on cultural issues would be outweighed by pushing economic policies intended to benefit the ordinary person.

NEW YORK -- I confess to having a residual soft spot for Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who is retiring from radio for finally going too far.

With eight years experience in the house and several years after that working as a lobbyist, many consider Sharon Merchant the "insider candidate" in the Senate District 27 Republican Primary. But Lizbeth Benacquisto is benefiting from ties to the inside too.

This is it -- primary Election Day in Florida -- in a state of increasing national importance and political vigor. As the rest of America watches -- for that matter, as Florida intently watches itself -- voters go to the polls to decide who will be their party's nominees in Novembers general election.

Jacksonville scored a top-five rating in a new national study on cities best positioned for K-12 school reform.