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

?Former Senate President Tom Lee continues to gain the backing of the Republican leadership for his return to Tallahassee. While Lee faces Rep. Rachel Burgin, R-Tampa, in the Republican primary for a state Senate seat, a host of prominent GOP leaders continue to endorse him. On Monday, state CFO Jeff Atwater, who served as Senate president himself before running for his current post in 2010, announced that he was backing Lee.

While Mitt Romney has won enough delegates in the primaries and caucuses to claim the Republican presidential nomination, Ron Paul continues to pick up delegates for when the GOP holds its convention in Tampa come August. Paul picked up 21 out of 25 delegates up for grabs at conventions in Iowa over the weekend. Rick Santorum, who nosed out Romney to win more popular votes than any of the other candidates in Iowa, pulled out of the race earlier in the election cycle.

Gov. Rick Scott will be out on a ranch for his 10th Lets Get to Work day on Monday. In order to highlight the economic impact of Floridas cattle industry, Scott will spend the day with Williamson Cattle Co. in Okeechobee, according to a release from his office. Scott will be working with cattle and at a livestock auction, as he is also scheduled to be at the Okeechobee Livestock Market during the day.

East Coast residents may get a chance to see an Atlas 5 rocket, with a classified National Reconnaissance Office payload, launched from Cape Canaveral. The 19-story rocket is set to go up between 8:26 a.m. and 9:25 a.m. from the Complex 41 pad. While the launch is set to head east over the Atlantic, details about the ascent and its duration were not released. Space Coast watchers should expect to get updates only for the first stage of the flight, up to the jettison of the nose cone, which should occur about five minutes after liftoff.