Sen. Jim King, a Jacksonville Republican who has served more than two decades in the legislature, has been diagnosed with advanced stage pancreatic cancer, his spokeswoman confirmed this afternoon.

“During a routine medical check up, Sen. King was told that he has advanced pancreatic cancer. While he will be aggressively treating this and seeking second opinions, he does understand that this type of cancer is difficult to treat and manage. Sen. King will fight this disease with the same fighting spirit that he has approached everything in life business and politics,” King, a former Senate president, said in a statement.

The King family is asking “that all media respect their privacy at this time” and direct all media inquiries to his spokeswoman, Sarah Bascom.

King, who is term-limited out of office next year, intends to fulfill the remainder of his term, according to the statement.

The avid Florida State University booster recently had expressed interest in becoming the chancellor of the state university system.

King was first elected to the state House in 1986. He served 12 years there before being elected to the Senate, where he served as president in 2002-2004, in 1999.

Florida Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, will announce next week that he’s running for Florida chief financial officer, a source close to Atwater says.

Atwater reportedly wants to wait for Attorney General Bill McCollum to announce that he’s running governor before launching his own CFO bid. Incumbent CFO Alex Sink is running for governor.

A prolific fund-raiser who collected more than $2. 5 million for his Senate reelection last year, Atwater has been lining up organizational support for a statewide run.

Former CFO Tom Gallagher has been getting some mention as a potential candidate for his old job. Gallagher couldn’t be reached today.

An Atwater CFO campaign will set off a scramble for his Palm Beach-Broward Senate seat. State Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, says she “probably” will run. State Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, is interested and investor Nick Loeb, who’s currently a GOP state House candidate, could jump to the Senate race as well.

Former U.S. Sen Bob Graham in the Huffington Post:

“When this issue started to resurface I called the appropriate people in the agency and said I would like to know the dates from your records that briefings were held,” Graham recalled.

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Palm Beach County’s Sharon Bock, who started calling the Clerk of Courts job “Clerk and Comptroller” to emphasize its financial oversignt responsibilities, says she’s fielded calls from Democrats around Florida asking her to consider running for state Chief Financial Officer now that incumbent Alex Sink is running for governor.

Bock has flatly ruled out such a run in the past. She still calls it highly unlikely, but today said she’ll at least consider it.

“Would I think about it? Sure. What are the chances? Very, very slim. But because I have been asked to think about it, I certainly will,” said Bock, who was elected in 2004 and reelected last year.

Bock said she’d have a difficult time running statewide, saying she’s only been a “one-county, low-ballot race-runner.”

Include Nick Loeb in the list of Republicans considering Senate President Jeff Atwater’s seat. Atwater might vacate the seat to campaign for state Chief Financial Officer now that Alex Sink is officially a candidate for governor.

Other GOPers looking at the coastal Palm Beach County district include Reps. Ellyn Bogdanoff of Fort Lauderdale and Carl Domino of Jupiter.

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Gov. Charlie Crist signed into law two bills helping kids in foster are and those who are getting ready to live on their own.

One bill (SB 126) makes it easier for former foster children to get access to their personal records. And it makes it easier for prospective foster and adoptive families to find out the histories of the children they are considering taking into their homes.
The law also requires state officials to keep complete and up-t0-date records for the kids in their care.

Another bill (SB 1128) makes sure that disabled homeless children and those in foster care have an advocate to make education decision.

Crist signed both bills into law today at a youth services center in Broward County.

Some former foster children have had problems getting their records, making it difficult for them to enroll in college or get a job.

Read about that here.

Among the names popping up this week for the possibly-soon-to-be vacant Attorney General office: How about Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park.

Cannon is supposed to be House speaker in 2010, but that’s not keeping some GOP enthusiasts from floating his name.

“That’s not even on my radar,” Cannon said. “I am focused on my job as speaker designate and preparing to be speaker.”

State Sen. and potential attorney general candidate Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, said he fears that too many Democrats running for the state’s top legal post will create a “brutal, competitive primary” that helps the GOP win.

Aronberg says he’s ready to submit paperwork to launch a 2010 attorney general campaign if incumbent Bill McCollum fulfills expectations and announces he’s running for governor.

Aronberg’s friend and fellow Democrat Rod Smith, the former state Senator and unsuccessful 2006 governor candidate from central Florida, is also eyeing the race. And there’s widespread speculation among Dems that state Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, will drop his U.S. Senate bid to enter the AG contest.

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The date hasn’t yet been announced but former state Rep. Joe Negron’s already got the thumbs up from GOP heavyweight Jeb Bush in the special election to fill retiring Sen. Ken Pruitt’s seat.

Negron’s campaign sent out an announcement today in which the former governor touts Negron’s conservative qualifications.

Negron “has the experience and temperament needed to help solve the problems that are facing our great state. Joe is a true conservative and has my complete support,” the release said.

Negron was planning to run next year to replace Pruitt, the former Senate president who on Friday said he was stepping down a year before he would have been forced out of office by term limits.

It’ll be the second special election show-down for Negron, who’s facing former foe Art Argenio in the GOP race for District 28.

Argenio, who also served in the state House, beat Negron in a bitter 1999 special election runoff to win a state House seat. Negron ousted Argenio in another rough-and-tumble primary the following year.

From our Eye On The Storm blog:

Gov. Charlie Crist said today a bill to let insurance companies raise property rates outside the control of state regulators “deeply concerns me.”

“I have my concerns about it, to be candid with you,” Crist said. “To not have the office of insurance regulation able to regulate insurance rates anymore deeply concerns me.”

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If you’re Republican Mel Martinez, who came from a double-digit deficit in the final two weeks of a U.S. Senate Republican contest in 2004 to overtake Bill McCollum, you probably think primaries are a good idea. Same goes if you’re Charlie Crist in 2006, who started well behind Tom Gallagher in name-id in the governor’s race.

But this the 2010 election we’re taking about. And while McCollum’s supporters are spinning his well-known name among voters as a reason no one should get too carried away about Democrat Alex Sink’s campaign, there’s still another Republican trying to make up his mind.

So before McCollum and fellow Republican Cabinet officer Charles Bronson make their plans known next week, we’ll put the question to you in The Forum, our blog where registered users can interact with the state’s top political strategists.

Here’s an initial thought from Florida Young Democrats President Alan Brock:

Lately the Republican Party hasn’t been so keen on obeying their 11th amendment, at least not as well as they used to, and with out that primaries are a game of Russian Roulette.

Click here for more.

WEST PALM BEACH — George LeMieux, who was Gov. Charlie Crist’s chief of staff before becoming chairman of the powerhouse Gunster Yoakley law firm, said tonight he’s “seriously considering” a run for attorney general.

LeMieux was in town giving a summary of the 2009 legislative session for a Norton Museum of Art audience that was sprinkled with elected officials, business leaders and attorneys.

LeMieux was deputy attorney general when Crist was AG. With Attorney General Bill McCollum expected to run for governor, no field-clearing Republican names have been mentioned as potential AG candidates. Potential Democratic candidates include state Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres.

“I have a calling for public service and I think the attorney general’s the best job in government,” LeMieux said. “If it’s something I’m going to do, I will make that decision quickly.”

With Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink announcing today that she’ll run for governor, term-limited state Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, said today he’s leaning toward running for CFO next year if state Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, doesn’t run for Sink’s job.

If Atwater runs for CFO, Domino says he might run for Atwater’s Senate seat.

“I’m going to see where Jeff is on things, talk to him,” Domino said.

Atwater’s been mentioned as a CFO candidate or a possible gubernatorial candidate (he’s a great-grandson of early 20th century Gov. Napoleon Bonaparte Broward). Atwater this week said he’s focused on his Senate job, but, in response to queries from others, will do some “soul-searching” in the next few weeks about other offices.

A few hours into her 18-month campaign for governor, Chief Financial Officer and instant Democratic frontrunner Alex Sink said she’ll focus on the economy, jobs and housing and cited her experience working with bipartisan outfits like Enterprise Florida and Florida TaxWatch.

“I’m going to be positive. I’m going to be a problem-solver. That’s what I’ve always been. That’s the approach I bring,” Sink said in a brief interview.

(Attentive readers of the PostOnPolitics blog will remember that, on Tuesday, Attorney General and likely GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum was touted by veteran GOP operative Sally Bradshaw as a “formidable candidate because, in these times, people are looking for a problem-solver.”)

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State CFO Alex Sink would be Florida’s first female governor if she can win the Democratic Party’s nomination and a general election against the Republican candidate next year. Meanwhile, here are some other notable women in Florida state politics history:

Mamie Eaton Greene of Monitcello: First woman elected statewide when she won a Railroad Commission office in 1928.

Republican Paula Hawkins of Maitland: Second female elected statewide when she won a Public Service Committee job in 1972. In 1980, she was the first Florida woman elected to the U.S. Senate.

Democrat Betty Castor of Tampa: Became the first woman elected to the state Cabinet in 1986 when she won the education commissioner job.

Recent female candidates for statewide office:

Sink: In 2006 became the first woman elected as CFO or its predecessor office: treasurer and insurance commissioner.

Katherine Harris, R-Longboat Key: Lost U.S. Senate race to Democrat Bill Nelson in 2006.

Castor: As the Democratic nominee, she lost a U.S. Senate race to Republican Mel Martinez.

Janet Reno, D-Miami: Lost a Democratic gubernatorial primary to Bill McBride, Sink’s husband, in 2002.

From Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer reacting to Democrat Alex Sink’s announcement:

“I welcome former banker Alex Sink to the Governor’s race. After years of smoke in mirrors, it is about time for Floridians to meet the real Alex Sink,” said Chairman Greer.

“Getting Florida’s economy back on track and creating jobs will be the number one task of Florida’s next Governor. On this front, Alex Sink has failed and will continue to fail,” continued Chairman Greer.

The real Alex Sink was paid millions of dollars while overseeing what the head of Atlanta’s Legal-Aid called “subprime predatory mortgage lending.”

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Minutes after she announced her candidacy for governor, Florida Democratic Party leader Karen Thurman and former governor and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham endorsed Alex Sink.

Sink, with U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson one of only two Democrats elected to statewide office, ended speculation about her run the day after Gov. Charlie Crist announced he would not seek reelection but would run to replace retiring GOP U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez.

“In just a short period of time, Alex has already cut wasteful spending, cracked down on financial fraud and scams, reformed government contracting and provided our state with a fresh approach to solving problems and restoring Florida’s economy,” Graham said in a statement.

“Floridians are cheering today now that Alex Sink has announced her candidacy for governor. As a businesswoman who delivers real results for the people of Florida, CFO Alex Sink is not only the Democrats’ strongest candidate but she’s the very best candidate for the job,” Thurman’s release said.

Although Sink has been mum about her plans, her attention from national Democrats has not gone unnoticed.

Recently, one of Boca Raton U.S. Rep. Ron Klein’s aides, Stephanie Grutman, came to work for Sink. Sink hired spokeswoman Kyra Jennings, a veteran of several Democratic congressional campaigns, about three months ago.

Alex Sink, a long-time banking executive and one of two Florida Democrats to win statewide elected office this decade, became the first candidate on Wednesday to announce a campaign to replace Republican Gov. Charlie Crist.

“I’m going to be a problem-solver,” said Sink, the state’s elected CFO. “That’s what I’ve always been. That’s the approach I bring.”

Sink, if elected, would be the first female governor in Florida.

Sink, 60, is expected to have a smooth path to her party’s nomination.

She raised $1.2 million during the first three months of the year — more than any other Florida politician. And her announcement, which came in a YouTube video e-mailed to reporters, was immediately greeted with endorsements from party leaders, including former Democratic Gov. Bob Graham and Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman.

Possible Republican candidates to replace Crist, who announced Tuesday he would run for U.S. Senate in 2010, include Attorney General Bill McCollum and Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson. Both said Wednesday that they would make their decisions next week.

Several top GOP strategists have already aligned behind McCollum, whose name is well-known among voters after running in three statewide elections and after serving 20 years in Congress, where he helped lead the impeachment of President Clinton.

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Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson is one of three state Cabinet members considering a run for governor. Here’s what he said this morning about a possible Republican primary with Attorney General Bill McCollum, who is expected to announce his plans next week:

“To get some of issues of the state really talked about I just felt like there needs to be a discussion there. And a primary is the best way to get that discussion out,” Bronson said.

“I don’t know that will happen unless we can get a real race going that’s meaningful in this thing. I’ll wait until I finish up all my phone calls.”

Bronson said he’d make his decision “early next week.”

With a potentially bloody GOP primary between Gov. Charlie Crist and former House Speaker Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate, a number of Republican heavies are lining up behind McCollum in hopes of focusing time and energy on a campaign against state CFO Alex Sink, the Democratic front runner for governor.

From the White House press briefing today with President Obama’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs.

Q Will the President campaign against Governor Charlie Crist, who is one of the only Republican governors who supported his stimulus plan, but is he going to support –

MR. GIBBS: I’ve got a way to go before we get into the schedule of the fall elections.

Q Is he going to support the Democratic nominee in that race?

MR. GIBBS: We generally support Democratic nominees — I’ll say that tongue in cheek. And I think you have a sense of where the President’s party allegiance lies.