Gov. Charlie Crist announced that he was appointing Stephanie Van Zant of Keystone Heights to the Clay County School Board in the absence of her husband, Charles Van Zant Jr -- the son of the socially conservative House member. With the younger Van Zant serving in Afghanistan, a host of House members from Northeast Florida called upon Crist to appoint Stephanie to the post. There were six other candidates including Karen Lake, an administrator with Santa Fe Community College, who was backed by Leslie Dougher from the Clay County Republican Party Executive Committee.

It's all about the jobs. That's the message of CFO candidate Jeff Atwater's new ad airing today.

Giving a chalkboard lesson on smaller government and bigger employment opportunities in the private sector, the outgoing state Senate president keeps it positive. A refreshing break from the nasty ads clogging the airwaves these days.

Suggesting that Sarah Palin is "running from" GOP congressional candidate Allen West, the Ron Klein campaign says it's significant that the former Alaska governor didn't bother calling West during her swing through Palm Beach today.

Palin, scheduled to headline a fund-raiser at the Breakers, wasn't available for comment, but West spokesman Josh Grodin downplayed the situation.

"To say that (Palin) is our top endorsement is a bit of a stretch," he said. "We're most proud of our veterans' endorsements."

Election Day is 27 days away and polls show the gubernatorial race between Rick Scott and Alex Sink to be a tight one.

A new TCPalm.com/Zogby poll shows a statistical dead heat with Scott at38.5 percent compared to Sink's 41.1 percent. The difference falls within the margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

For it to be a 2-point race and 15 percent undecided, it just makes it too close, said John Zogby, chairman of Zogby International.

This poll was taken from 802 likely voters.