After 10 Glorious Years, Sunshine State News and I Are Passing the Baton

Joe Scarborough, a former Florida Republican congressman and MSNBC host, went after Congress today for saying all the right things about fiscal responsibility but then supporting a tax cut compromise that adds "a trillion" dollars to the deficit. Scarborough, reports state Sen. Dave Aronberg, was among the early speakers at today's "No Labels" political conference in New York City. Newly elected Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who previously had slammed the feds for their free-spending ways, wouldn't say how he would vote on the tax deal.

With an eye on running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota took aim at public employee unions in an opinion piece that ran in Mondays Wall Street Journal.

ABC News reports that a federal judge in Virginia could issue a ruling Monday in a lawsuit opposing the Affordable Care Act, the federal overhaul of health care. The ruling could affect a similar case being led in Florida but joined by several other states.

The "No Labels" crusade kicked off this morning in New York City with a speech by columnist David Brooks echoing the refrain: "We have good people stuck in a bad system." Former Florida state Sen. Dave Aronberg, reporting from the meeting, said, "The No. 1 enemy here is partisanship. The leaders of this movement emphasize that this is not about a third party, but an end to the hyperpartisanship that divides America."