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

Sen. Don Gaetz, unofficially tapped to be the next Florida Senate president after Mike Haridopolos' term expires in 2012, will get the official title of Senate president-designate during a ceremony scheduled for Sept. 19 at the Capitol. Gaetz is one of the most powerful Republican leaders in the Senate, and chairs the Redistricting Committee.

Another Republican has entered the GOP primary to challenge U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fort Lauderdale. Joe Kaufman, founder of Americans Against Hate, announced he will seek to take on the four-term congresswoman in 2012. Karen Harrington, who ran against Wasserman Schultz last year, announced earlier this year that she will run again. Kaufman has the support of Tea Party Fort Lauderdale, says that group's leader, Danita Kilkullen.

With Republicans beginning a push for a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida joined his GOP colleagues in backing the idea on Wednesday. Washingtons massive spending and fiscal mismanagement has gone on long enough, and it is time for a balanced budget amendment to be enshrined in our Constitution, said Rubio. Our unsustainable debt and ever-rising deficits are not victimless practices -- they cause uncertainty that is actively killing jobs and threatening to leave future generations stuck with the bill.

The itinerary during the Republicans' Presidency 5 summit in Orlando this fall is filling out. The American Conservative Union announced Wednesday that its first regional Conservative Political Action Conference will be held on Sept. 23. ACU will host the event a day after a Fox News presidential debate. The P5 presidential straw poll is scheduled for the summit's concluding day, Saturday, Sept. 24.