Patrick Murphy's mom and dad -- best kind of parents a candidate can have when the political chips are down -- are buying love by the thousands for their Senate seat-seeking son.

Sherlock Holmes famously solved the mystery of the Silver Blaze by noting the dog that didn't bark in the night. It strikes me that in this wild and woolly campaign cycle there have been numerous dogs not barking in the night, or in the daytime either. 

The state is inching closer to a bear hunt, but ursine mammals aren't the only things being targeted in Florida government and politics.

In Leon County, a judge is hunting for the right map of the state's congressional districts to send to the Florida Supreme Court. And Gov. Rick Scott is aiming at what he calls "price-gouging" by some of the state's hospitals --- raising the prospect of another health-care showdown in the legislative session that begins in January.