Florida has a lot riding on the future of manned spaceflight.

While a number of elections across the state appear to be interesting contests that will go to the wire, more than 30 members of the Legislature can uncork the champagne and claim victory more than four months before citizens actually vote.

Congress begins this week with leftovers on its plate that hardly anyone wants to deal with. These include the stalled tax extenders bill in the Senate and the war supplemental appropriations bill in the House.

Tallahassee lobbyist and longtime campaign adviser John Mac Stipanovich dismisses those underfunded candidates who emerge and promise a mostly grass-roots campaign, built on glad-handing Florida voters.

Stipanovich is a campaign realist who served as chief of staff to ex-Gov. Bob Martinez and adviser to such political stars as Jeb Bush, Katherine Harris and Charlie Crist. He evokes a simple standard for statewide candidates:

The barbecue rule.

Congress found itself mostly tied up in knots this week, as both the Senate and the House chambers tried to find votes for passage of bills that have huge price tags, and have no offsets or spending cuts to pay the cost of the bills.

Look no further than the unprecedented environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico to find an example of the need for stronger management of marine and coastal environments -- and resources -- in Florida.

Florida public university students will pay on average an additional $532 in tuition and fees for the upcoming school year that begins in the fall, the university system's board of governors determined Friday.

The university governing board approved a 15 percent tuition increase for the 11 universities Friday, bringing Florida's public university tuition more in line with the national average. The Legislature had already approved an 8 percent tuition increase, but the board tacked on an additional 7 percent at the request of the individual universities.

Filing closed for state elections at noon on Friday -- setting the stage for some interesting contests in Florida come November.

Attorney General Bill McCollum, currently locked in a tight battle with health-care executive Rick Scott for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, called for local taxes and property taxes to be frozen at their current levels for the next two years. The attorney general also called for caps on the growth of local governments.