Bits and pieces from the Republican presidential debate in Jacksonville on Thursday night ...

With a combination of attacks on President Obama and each other -- and with the Florida primary looming on Tuesday -- the four remaining candidates for the Republican presidential nomination made their case on a wide range of issues Thursday night before a receptive audience at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.

With the Presidential Preference Primary looming on Tuesday, Mitt Romney holds a solid lead over the Republican presidential pack in Florida, according to a Sunshine State News Poll of likely primary voters.

On Thursday, with all eyes on Jacksonville and the Republican presidential debate, political and policy leaders gathered on the First Coast to warn about the threats of the increasing cost of the federal government.

At a forum held at Jacksonville University, former U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez joined David Walker, a JU alumnus who served as comptroller general of the United States and the current CEO of the Comeback America Initiative, and Robert Bixby, the executive director of the Concord Coalition.

A poll of likely primary voters released by Quinnipiac University on Wednesday morning finds that former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich has caught up withRepublican presidential primary rival former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts in Florida.

"Florida is essentially a dead heat and a two-man race between Governor Mitt Romney and Speaker Newt Gingrich entering the last week of the campaign," Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Two polls released on Tuesday find former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich in a close battle to win the Republican presidential primary on Tuesday.

After helping him win the South Carolina primary on Saturday, conservatives have propelled former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich ahead of former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts to lead the race for the Republican presidential nomination, according to a national poll of likely primary voters released Tuesday by Rasmussen Reports.

With Florida's primary looming next Tuesday, the four leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination clashed in an acrimonious debate Monday night at the University of South Florida in Tampa, bringing up old charges against each other and introducing some new ones as they tried to influence Republican voters in the week they have left.

A new poll finds that former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, fresh from his win in the South Carolina primary on Saturday, now heads the field of Republican presidential hopefuls in Florida leading up to the Jan. 31 primary.

While he may not have stayed in the Republican presidential race following accusations of marital impropriety and a series of gaffes, businessman Herman Cain shows no signs of heading to the political sidelines.

My mission is still to defeat Barack Obama and get the Republican nominee for the presidency elected, Cain wrote in an email to supporters sent out earlier in the month.