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As he prepares to bang the gavel on his first regular session as Florida Senate President, Mike Haridopolos faces questions about how he’ll juggle his role in the legislature with his candidacy for the U.S. Senate. He said Monday that his success as a candidate will hinge on his performance as a leader now, implementing what could be one of the most challenging legislative agendas in recent memory.

A federal appeals court yesterday struck down an attempt by state utility interests to do away with the EPA’s proposed “numeric nutrient criteria,” which will set limits on pollution in Florida waterways. # The decision to implement the nutrient criteria came about as a result of litigation brought on by environmental groups including the Sierra Club and the St. Johns Riverkeeper, who alleged that Florida was in violation of the Clean Water Act since it did not have appropriate water pollution limits.

In a press release sent out shortly after a District Court Judge rejected a lawsuit challenging Florida’s “Fair Districts” Amendment 6, would-be representative Mike Yost said that the suit was simply another attempt at gerrymandering. Yost, who lost to Democratic incumbent Corrine Brown in 2010 (and has already launched another campaign to unseat her) said that the suit “was clearly another attempt to allow her to continue to force the Legislature to draw districts that would let the representatives choose their voters, not the voters choosing their representatives.” Sixty-three percent of Florida voters voted for Amendment 6, which were created to help end the practice of gerrymandering, or drawing congressional lines to benefit incumbents

The Washington Post reports that there’s been an unannounced deployment of 13,000 support troops to Afghanistan over the last several months in addition to the

Democratic U.S. Reps. Heath Shuler and Mike McIntyre of North Carolina have joined 171 other members of Congress as co-sponsors of H.R. 3, the No Taxpayer

Questions are already surrounding the law’s unprecedented provision, which makes it a crime to rent housing to unauthorized immigrants, because it includes no information as to how a landlord might determine whether a tenant is undocumented.

Nice catch by Todd Heywood of The Michigan Messenger: U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter , has introduced legislation to create a tax deduction for pet owners’

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo (Pic by Nieve44/La Luz, via Flickr) In statement for the Catholic Church’s “Respect Life Month,” Cardinal Daniel DiNardo released a statement saying that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is exhibiting antagonism toward religion and has displayed a “distorted view of sexuality.” DiNardo, who is the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, has taken issue with a decision by Health and Human Services to include birth control in a list of preventive care services.

From an RNC press release, here’s a hint at just who’s moping about Harold Ford’s aborted Senate bid.

Pueblo County Clerk Gilbert Ortiz gave Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler until this morning to specifically and formally address another of the charged ramifications of his new interpretation of state election law. Gessler got in under the wire. Thursday evening, he sent Ortiz a letter ordering him not to send ballots to any of the county’s “inactive voters”– legally registered voters who failed to cast ballots in the previous even-year general election– including roughly 70 soldiers on the Pueblo County inactive voter rolls serving out of state

Colorado Republican Party Chair Dick Wadhams apparently isn’t the only one attacking the financial acumen of state Sen.

After hearing this morning from Republican senators on the Armed Services Committee that their report on Fort Hood was too politically correct to single out

Media Matters staff has been all over the manufactured scandal haunting Kevin Jennings, the U.S. Department of Education’s director of the Office of Safe and

Unlike previous Democratic presidential candidates, Obama has taken a cue from the state’s governor and freshman senator and launched an all-inclusive 88-county strategy with an unprecedented grassroots campaign. Ohioans have never seen anything like it.

Gov. Rick Scott (left) with Florida Senate President-Designate Don Gaetz, R-Destin (Pic via flgov.com) Though the specifics of what Florida higher education reforms might look like remains unclear, it is increasingly important to examine who might be inspiring them. While Gov

The Today Show ran a groveling interview with ex-Playboy bunny and newfound alternative med-queen Jenny McCarthy on Wednesday. The text of the interview is

A natural gas pipeline exploded in San Bruno, Calif., Sept. 9. (Xinhua/ZUMApress.com)

Two new ones from the tireless Iranian dissenter worth highlighting. First: Hospital sources - at least 1000 people injured so far by Gov in the streets

Iowa women considering an elected office, or who want to serve on local boards and commissions, will soon have an opportunity to learn the ins-and-outs of politics. More importantly, the campaign training comes at a time when redistricting and state gender-balancing policies have opened up new opportunities for women. If ever there was a time for women to explore opportunities to run for public office, it’s now, says Dianne Bystrom, director of Iowa State University’s Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics

Now that there are only a few banks left that haven’t repaid their TARP funds -- and many did so to get out from under Pay Czar Ken Feinberg’s pay-restricting

A new Washington Post poll in the Virginia gubernatorial race has Republican candidate Bob McDonnell jumping to a 9-point lead over Democratic candidate Creigh