In a nationally televised debate where most of the candidates agreed on most of the issues, Rep. Michele Bachmann's announcement that she had filed papers to run for president and Mitt Romney's news flash that the Boston Bruins were up 4-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals drew the biggest cheers Monday night.

From the economy and bailouts to Obamacare and immigration, the seven GOP hopefuls talked up free markets and bashed President Barack Obama's performance.

Bachmann and Romney dominated portions of the two-hour CNNdebate from Manchester, N.H.

Applauding Gov. Rick Scott and most Republican legislators, former Gov. Jeb Bush said Monday that Florida's "culture of reform" ensures future educational gains in the state.

Bush's Foundation for Florida's Future issued grades for lawmakers based on their support for school choice, competition and accountability measures at the 2011 Legislature.

"Reforms enacted this year reorganize schools around the success of every student in the Sunshine State," Bush said in unveiling this year's report card.

Drug testing of temporary-aid recipients may root out narcotics users, but it won't save Floridians the millions of dollars initially projected by Gov. Rick Scott.

During the 2010 election campaign, Scott said the state could save $77 million by imposing "more stringent standards on non-compliance with work requirements and require drug screening for recipients,"

But the Department of Children and Families, which will administer the newly signed drug-test law that takes effect July 1, isn't expecting a financial windfall.

Registration for Florida's GOP presidential straw poll closes Friday.

A mass resignation by Newt Gingrich's top staff dealt a potentially fatal blow to the Republican's presidential campaign Thursday.

Already struggling with mixed messages and a backlash by conservative voters, the former House speaker's prospects looked bleaker than ever after his campaign manager and at least six other top advisers and aides abruptly quit.

The 2011 budget deal brokered by Democrats and Republicans is pushing the national debt to a level that exceeds the entire U.S. economy.

A latest Treasury report predicts that the national debt will be 102 percent of the country's gross domestic product before this year is over.The last time debt surpassed GDP was during World War II.

One of the key debt drivers was last December's Capitol Hill budget deal, which added an estimated $858 billion to federal deficits over a decade. Some $410 billion is being piled on this year alone, said the Congressional Budget Office.

A business plaintiff in the legal challenge to Obamacare saidopponents had "a good day" at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday.

Presiding over a packed courtroom in Atlanta, a three-judge panel heard oral arguments from both sides over the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.

A coalition of 26 states, led by Florida and the National Federation of Independent Business, argued that the ACA's mandate requiring the purchase of health insurance was an unprecedented overreach of federal power.