Adam Putnam kicked off the 500-plus-participant Florida Energy Summit Wednesday with a promise that the state Energy Office "will not get lost as some people thought," now that it's been absorbed into the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

"Energy had ping-ponged around state departments for years," DACS Commissioner Putnam said. "It was a red-headed stepchild;now it's with a real head and we're going to make sure, starting with this summit, that we openly embrace the good work coming out of universities and from entrepreneurs and established businesses ..."

Having lost every statewide race in 2010 and seeing the Republicans control veto-proof majorities of both chambers of the Florida Legislature, the Florida Democratic Party is on the attack, trying to link every Republican in the state to Gov. Rick Scott. On Tuesday, the Democrats launched a new website, attacking Scotts record -- and a host of other issues.

Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, the Sunshine States only member of the Ways and Means Committee, urged the Obama administration Tuesday to stand up to China and defend intellectual property.

China has ignored U.S. intellectual property rights for too long, Buchanan said at a Ways and Means meeting. This blatant infringement of copyrights and patents has cost our country millions of jobs and billions of dollars. This is simply not acceptable.