Gov. Rick Scott made it official this morning and appointed Tallahassee lawyer Peter Antonacci as the state attorney for Palm Beach County for the final 10 months of Michael McAuliffe‘s term.

Antonacci, a Republican, said this morning that he does not plan to run for a full four-year term in the fall.

That’s good news for former Democratic state Sen. Dave Aronberg, the only candidate who has opened a 2012 campaign for the job.

Antonacci, 63, is a former statewide prosecutor and deputy attorney general who now works as a lawyer and lobbyist for the powerhouse Gray Robinson firm in Tallahassee. McAuliffe, elected in 2008, is leaving next Friday to take a job with billionaire Bill Koch‘s Oxbow Carbon.

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After receiving 11 applications for the upcoming Palm Beach County state attorney vacancy and interviewing five potential appointees, Gov. Rick Scott announced Wednesday night that he’s reopening the application process — but only a little.

The 6:35 p.m. Wednesday announcement from the governor’s office says the new deadline for applications is 5 p.m. today.

It’s the second time Scott has extended the deadline. The original date was Feb. 15, but Scott extended that to Feb. 22.

Time is running out. State Attorney Michael McAuliffe is leaving office March 16 to take a job with billionaire Bill Koch‘s Oxbow Carbon. Scott’s appointee will serve through Jan. 7, the end of McAuliffe’s term. A full four-year term will be awarded by voters in the fall elections.

All five of the applicants Scott has interviewed — former state attorney Barry Krischer, current Chief Assistant State Attorney Paul Zacks, Assistant State Attorney Ellen Roberts, Jacksonville-area Assistant State Attorney Wesley White and former Palm Beach County assistant state attorney Daniel Galo — have said they are not interested in running for a full four-year term if they get the appointment.

Gov. Rick Scott interviewed former Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer and Jacksonville-area Assistant State Attorney Wesley White this morning in Tallahassee as he looks to replace State Attorney Michael McAuliffe, who’s leaving March 16.

Krischer, a Democrat who had never met the Republican governor, said he had a “very pleasant” 30-minute conversation with Scott and the governor’s chief counsel, Charles Trippe. Krischer, elected to the job four times before deciding not to seek a fifth term in 2008, said he reiterated to Scott that he’s only interested in serving the last 10-1/2 months of McAuliffe’s term to “safeguard” the office until a new elected state attorney takes over in January.

White met with Scott and Trippe for about 25 minutes immediately before Krischer. White heads the Nassau County office for the 4th Judicial Circuit, which includes Jacksonville. White, a Republican, has also said he’s not interested in running for a full four-year term in the fall.

“He asked a lot of questions. You can tell that he received legal training,” White said of Scott.

Scott last month interviewed three other applicants, all Republicans, in West Palm Beach: Chief Assistant State Attorney Paul Zacks, Assistant State Attorney Ellen Roberts and former assistant state attorney Daniel Galo.

Former Palm Beach County state attorney Barry Krischer said he’ll be in Tallahassee Monday to interview with Gov. Rick Scott for the appointment to replace current State Attorney Michael McAuliffe.

McAuliffe is leaving office March 16 for a job with billionaire Bill Koch‘s Oxbow Carbon.

Krischer, a Democrat, was elected four times and held the top prosecutor’s job from 1993 to 2009. He has said he’s only interested in serving the final 10-1/2 months of McAuliffe’s term and would not run for a full four-year term in the fall.

So far Scott’s only interviews have been with three Republicans — Chief Assistant State Attorney Paul Zacks, Assistant State Attorney Ellen Roberts and former assistant state attorney Daniel Galo.

Former Democratic state Sen. Dave Aronberg — still the only announced candidate for Palm Beach County state attorney — will get fundraising help next month from U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, and Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, and former Democratic Reps. Robert Wexler, Ron Klein and Harry Johnston.

The congressional quintet and former Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth are on the host committee for the March 15 event at the Delray Beach home of Aronberg’s parents. Democratic Palm Beach County Commissioners Burt Aaronson, Shelley Vana and Priscilla Taylor and several Democratic club presidents and municipal officials are among the co-hosts.

With an April 20 candidate qualifying deadline approaching, Aronberg is the only candidate who has opened a campaign to replace State Attorney Michael McAuliffe, who is stepping down March 16 for a private sector job. Gov. Rick Scott will appoint a replacement to fill the remainder of McAuliffe’s term, which ends in January. Scott last week said he hasn’t decided whether he wants an appointee who will also run for the job in the fall.

Former Democratic state Sen. Dave Aronberg, the only candidate to open a 2012 campaign for Palm Beach County state attorney, is urging Republican Gov. Rick Scott to appoint a “caretaker” to serve the last 9-1/2 months of incumbent Michael McAuliffe‘s term and not pick someone who will run against Aronberg for a full four-year term.

McAuliffe leaves office next month to take a private sector job. Seven people have applied to Scott for the appointment to fill the remainder of McAuliffe’s term, which ends in January. Several of the applicants have said they are only interested in the short-term appointment and not in running on the 2012 ballot.

Aronberg sent a letter to Scott today saying he won’t seek the appointment “to avoid even the appearance of using the temporary position for political purposes.”

And Aronberg doesn’t want anyone else to use the appointed position for political advantage.

“I believe that the interim State Attorney should be a caretaker, rather than someone who seeks to benefit from the temporary appointment to get elected to the position full-time in November,” Aronberg wrote.

The deadline to apply for the appointment is 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Read Aronberg’s letter after the jump…

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Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Krista Marx told PostOnPolitics this afternoon that she will not run for state attorney or seek the interim appointment to replace incumbent Michael McAuliffe.

Marx, a former assistant state attorney, was entertaining the idea after McAuliffe announced last month that he would not seek reelection this year. McAuliffe later announced he’s leaving office in March to take a job with West Palm Beach-based Oxbow Carbon, which means Gov. Rick Scott will appoint a replacement to serve the last nine months of McAuliffe’s term.

Former Democratic state Sen. Dave Aronberg is the only candidate to open a 2012 campaign for McAuliffe’s job.

Scott’s office says it has received one application for the state attorney appointment, from Wesley Forrest White, an assistant state attorney in Nassau County near Jacksonville. White said he would move to Palm Beach County if he got the appointment. He said he is not interested in running for a four-year term.

State Attorney Michael McAuliffe said this morning that he plans to leave office sometime before his term expires in January 2013.

McAuliffe shocked the local political world this week when he announced he would not seek reelection this year and would instead take a job with Oxbow Carbon, a West Palm Beach-based energy company headed by billionaire Bill Koch.

Today, McAuliffe told The Palm Beach Post he will leave office before his term is up, but he said he has not set a date for his departure.

“Understandably the company wants and needs me before January of 2013 and so, as a result, I will be unable to complete my full term,” McAUliffe said in a brief interview. He said he’ll announce a specific departure date “when it’s appropriate….The goal is to have an orderly transition in this office so that the work proceeds uninterrupted.”

McAuliffe just sent this message to his staff:

I know it has been a difficult week – at least with regard to unforeseen news about my status and intentions. I thank you for your many, many words and messages of support and encouragement. I am indebted to you. As I stated to some already, understandably the company I will join wants and needs me before January 2013. As a result, I will not be able to complete my full term of office. I am finalizing a transition plan and time table. You will be the first to know the specifics. The plan and time table will ensure a smooth, thoughtful path for the change. As you know, the office is much, much more than any individual including the office holder. Please stay focused on what you do so well – prosecuting individuals for crimes committed in our community.

Thanks. MM

If former state Sen. Dave Aronberg challenges Palm Beach County State Attorney Michael McAuliffe in a Democratic primary next year, he can expect the McAuliffe camp to blast him for working as “pill mill” czar under Republican Attorney General Pam Bondi.

That was one of the potential lines of attack tested in a poll conducted by the McAuliffe campaign this month.

Aronberg is expected to announce in January whether he’s running.

Read about it in this week’s Politics column.