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

Ohio ranks as one of the chief states Republicans want to pick up from President Barack Obama in November -- and a poll released on Thursday finds Rick Santorum is heading for a major victory in the March 6 primary. Santorum, who hails from neighboring Pennsylvania, takes 42 percent in a poll of likely primary voters released by Rasmussen Reports on Thursday. Mitt Romney places second with 24 percent followed by Newt Gingrich with 13 percent and Ron Paul with 10 percent. Three percent of those surveyed back other candidates, while 8 percent are undecided.

Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio announced on Thursday that he was introducing a companion measure to U.S. Rep. Steve Southerlands, R-Fla., bill forcing the federal EPA to adopt the states water standards -- and keep it from imposing its own draconian standards on the Sunshine State. The bill, entitled the State Waters Partnership Act, would ensure the EPA follows the standards that unanimously passed the state Legislature earlier this month.

A new Republican National Committee infographic, based on an analysis by The Washington Post this week, shows a web of Obama "insiders" in the Department of Energy who are tied to clean-energy companies that received billions in federal dollars.

Gov. Rick Scott says he will look into what his office can do to advance prison privatization this year, estimated to save the state $16.5 million a year, now that the effort to bid out the management of the correctional institutions has died in the Senate.