When a presidential election devolves into a hydrant-watering contest between leading contenders about the relative attractiveness of their respective wives, not only does America look ridiculous but we diminish our moral standing to denounce other cultures' marginalization of women.

Ion Sancho has long been one of the most-outspoken elections officials in Florida. But after overseeing this fall's voting in Leon County, he will step down after nearly three decades as an elections supervisor.

Groups that successfully challenged the Florida Legislature's congressional map aren't entitled to recover millions of dollars in legal fees from the state, an appellate court ruled Thursday.

A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal unanimously rejected arguments from a coalition of voting-rights organizations and a group of voters that their lawyers had essentially done the work of a "private attorney general" while state Attorney General Pam Bondi "sat on the sidelines."