President Obama will campaign Tuesday morning at the Delray Beach Tennis Center, his campaign announced this morning.

Obama and Mitt Romney will tangle in their third and final presidential debate the night before at Lynn University in Boca Raton.

The exact time for Obama’s remarks hasn’t been set, but doors open at 7 a.m. for the Tuesday event, the Obama campaign announced. The event is free, but tickets are required and will be available beginning at 5 p.m. today at several locations listed after the jump…

According to the Obama campaign, here’s where tickets are available after 5 p.m. today for the president’s Tuesday appearance at the Delray Beach Tennis Center:

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While Mitt Romney raises money at a pair of closed-door events in Palm Beach on Saturday, Ann Romney will attend a rally at the Mizner Park Amphitheater in Boca Raton.

Doors open at 4:45 p.m. and the program begins at 7:15 p.m. Tickets are available at www.mittromney.com/FL or can be picked up from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. today and after 9 a.m. Saturday at three sites.

See the locations after the jump…

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Former Gov. Charlie Crist, a potential Republican vice presidential pick in 2008 who criticized Barack Obama as a surrogate for GOP nominee John McCain, returned to surrogate duty this afternoon — but this time for Obama.

Crist, who became an independent in 2010 and endorsed Obama in August, appeared on a Democratic conference call to bracket upcoming visits to Florida by Mitt Romney and running mate Paul Ryan.

“As Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan come to our own state all they have to offer are empty promises and failed policies,” Crist said.

Echoing Obama’s stump speeches, Crist accused Romney of backing a deficit-busting $5 trillion tax cut for the wealthy and an unnecessary $2 trillion hike in defense spending.

“He asks for your vote, but he won’t tell you how he’s going to pay for these things,” Crist said.

Crist also picked up on this week’s popular Democratic theme of ridiculing Romney for his description during Tuesday’s debate of his efforts to recruit women for his administration when he was governor of Massachusetts.

“I went to a number of women’s groups and said, ‘Can you help us find folks,’ and they brought us whole binders full of women,” Romney said. Critics pounced on the “binders full of women” phrase and Crist joined in today.

Crist said Romney “talked about (women) as resumes in a binder….He doesn’t understand the challenges they face.”

Crist added that Romney should have known of plenty of qualified female applicants from his prior experience in the business world.

“Why did Mitt Romney even need binders full of women to find qualified candidates?” Crist said.

Mitt Romney‘s campaign announced tonight that the GOP nominee will join running mate Paul Ryan at a rally in Daytona Beach on Friday night. The rally was announced earlier in the week as a Ryan-headlined event.

Ryan will be in Boca Raton earlier Friday for a fundraiser. And Romney will make a pair of money stops in Palm Beach on Saturday.

Vice President Joe Biden will campaign in the state Friday and Saturday, including a Friday appearance in Fort Pierce.

Romney and President Obama will be in Boca Raton on Monday for the third and final presidential debate at Lynn University.

Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan on Thursday will attend a daytime campaign rally in Ocala and an evening rally in Fort Myers, Mitt Romney‘s campaign announced today.

Ryan is also slated to be in Boca Raton on Friday for a fundraiser.

Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to campaign on Friday in Sun City Center near Tampa and in Fort Pierce later in the day. Biden will also campaign in Florida on Saturday, but details have not been released.

Also expected to campaign for President Obama in Florida over the weekend: Chicago Mayor and former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.

Obama and Romney will be in Boca Raton next Monday for the third and final presidential debate at Lynn University.

A new Florida poll by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling shows Mitt Romney edging President Obama in Florida by a 49-to-48 percent margin — a net gain of five points for the Republican nominee since a PPP poll in late September showed Obama with a 50-to-46 percent edge.

The poll shows independent voters breaking toward Romney since the end of September. Romney leads 51-to-43 percent among independents in PPP’s survey of 791 likely voters conducted Friday through Sunday. The poll has a 3.4 percent margin of error. Obama held a 51-to-40 lead among independents a few weeks ago, according to PPP.

“Mitt Romney has the momentum after his strong debate performance last week, but Barack Obama’s still very much in it,” says PPP President Dean Debnam.

The poll found Florida voters thought Vice President Joe Biden won last week’s debate against Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan by a 44-to-40 percent margin. But voters have an overall negative opinion of Biden (45 percent favorable, 50 percent unfavorable) and an overall positive view of Ryan (50 percent positive, 44 percent negative).

PPP’s survey says Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson leads Republican Connie Mack by a 45-to-37 percent margin. Nelson and Mack hold a televised debate Wednesday night from Nova Southeastern University in Davie.

A new poll showing President Obama and Republican Mitt Romney in a too-close-to-call fight for Florida, also has Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson building on his lead over Republican Connie Mack.

The NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist Poll released Thursday has Obama ahead in the nation’s biggest battleground state, 48-47 percent among likely voters and those leaning toward a candidate. Obama’s faltering performance in the first presidential debate didn’t seem to matter much to Floridians, pollsters found.

“Most Florida voters were locked into their choice prior to the debate, and only 6% of likely voters made up their mind post-debate,” says Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. “Overall, Romney’s supporters are slightly more enthusiastic about their candidate than are Obama’s backers.”

In Florida’s U.S. Senate race, Mack has acknowledged that his fortunes are closely tied to how Romney does in the state. But the latest findings show Nelson ahead 52-39 percent, with only nine percent of Floridians undecided.

A week earlier, the Marist survey showed Nelson with an 11 percent lead and seven percent undecided.

The latest survey polled 1,410 Floridians from Oct. 7-9. It has a 3.1 percent margin-of-error.

Meanwhile, Nelson, who has been accused by Mack of ducking debates and trying to run out the clock on the Senate contest, is kicking off his homestretch tour of Florida on Friday in the Orlando area.

 The campaign said Nelson will appear with entertainer Jimmy Buffett that day, part of 19 planned stops across the state leading to Election Day.

Already the heavy favorite of third-party spending groups, Republican Connie Mack said Wednesday that his campaign to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson has completed its best fund-raising quarter, pulling in $2.7 million.

“We could not be in a better position for the final stretch of this race,” said Jeff Cohen, Mack’s campaign manager.

“Our outstanding fundraising results reflect the fact that this race is far closer than the media and their public polls indicate,” he added. “Our own internal polling continues to show this race is a dead heat, and Floridians are now just weeks away from retiring Bill Nelson and his lockstep liberal agenda.”

Mack has been steadily pumping up his personal campaign cash, but headed into this fall with only $1.4 million in the bank – compared with $8.8 million for Nelson. The Democrat hasn’t yet reported his fundraising for the July 1-Sept. 30 quarter.

Polls show Mack trailing Nelson by an average 5.6 percent. But there’s been no survey of Florida voters since Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney’s recent surge in the polls — a move that may also be helping the chances of many GOP contenders, including Mack.

Romney’s once tattered coattails don’t look so bad at the moment.

“If Mitt Romney wins, I win. If I win, Mitt Romney wins,” Mack has said. “So we are certainly going to be tied together.”

While Romney’s recent debate performance helped boost his prospects against President Obama, Mack has his own chance to shine under the TV lights. Mack and Nelson are scheduled to meet next Wednesday for their only statewide television debate at Davie’s Nova Southeastern University.

Betty Douglas phones a voter from a GOP office in Fort Lauderdale.

FORT LAUDERDALE — Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan‘s mother offered some simple advice to her son in advance of Thursday night’s debate with Vice President Joe Biden.

“Any advice for him? Just be yourself, which he is anyway,” said Betty Douglas, a Lauderdale-By-The-Sea resident.

“I think he’s going to do very, very well because, first of all, he’s not afraid to speak. He’s not afraid to confront. And he does do his homework, and oh has he been studying,” Douglas told reporters and campaign volunteers at a Mitt Romney campaign office tonight.

Douglas and her daughter, Janet Ryan Rock, stopped by the office on East Oakland Park Boulevard so Douglas could place what campaign officials estimate was the 9 millionth call contacting Florida voters for Romney.

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President Obama returns to Florida on Thursday afternoon to appear at a rally at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, the president’s campaign announced today.

Obama’s remarks at the BankUnited Center will include things he wished he’d said in last week’s lackluster debate performance against Mitt Romney. According to the campaign, Obama “will continue to underscore the clear contrast between himself and Mitt Romney, who has grown increasingly misleading in how he talks about his own plans.”

After the University of Miami event, Obama is scheduled to attend a fundraiser in Miami with Eva Longoria and a performance by Sheila E.

Allen West works the crowd in Port St. Lucie before this afternoon's Mitt Romney rally

PORT ST. LUCIE — U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Palm Beach Gardens, drew shouts of “West! West! West!” and at least one suggestion he run for president when he showed up this afternoon for a Mitt Romney rally at Tradition Square.

“You’ve already got a great candidate,” West said to a man who said he should run for the White House.

Florida CFO Jeff Atwater and state Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, are among the elected officials on hand. Romney is expected to arrive and speak later this afternoon.

“How about that debate?” Atwater asked the crowd, drawing a big cheer. Romney was the consensus winner of Wednesday night’s first of three presidential debates.

Atwater also got a big response when he mocked former Vice President Al Gore for suggesting Obama’s performance might have suffered because he hadn’t had time to adjust to the altitude in Denver. Atwater noted Denver is where Obama accepted the Democratic nomination in 2008.

“Barack Obama had no problem four years ago standing in front of Greek columns telling us how he would fundamentally change America from Denver,” Atwater said. “It’s time we fundamentally change who sits in the White House.”

Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan will attend a fundraiser in Boca Raton on Oct. 19 and Mitt Romney will headline a pair of money events the next day in Palm Beach.

The GOP ticketmates will be raising some final campaign dollars during the run-up to the third and final presidential debate on Oct. 22 at Lynn University in Boca Raton.

Brian Ballard, a finance co-chairman for Romney in Florida, says Romney’s Palm Beach money visits are believed to be the final formal fundraising events featuring the candidate.

The specific location for each of the fundraisers hasn’t been announced. The Ryan event includes a $2,500-a-head general reception, a $10,000 VIP photo reception and a $25,000-per-plate private dinner. The host committee includes former Ambassador Ned Siegel and financier Marc Leder, whose home was the setting for Romney’s “47 percent” remarks.

Romney’s Oct. 20 visit to Palm Beach includes a $5,000 general reception and a $50,000 private dinner. Larry Kawa, a member of the host committee for the Palm Beach events, says 700 to 1,000 people are expected for the general reception and as many as 100 for the dinner.

Mitt Romney, buoyed by strong Wednesday night debate performance against President Obama, will spend three days campaigning in critical Florida, wrapping up with a rally Sunday in Port St. Lucie.

The Romney campaign had already announced a Friday rally in St. Petersburg.

There’s a Saturday rally in Apopka in Central Florida.

And Romney will appear Sunday at Tradition Town Square in Port St. Lucie. Doors open for the event at 12:45 p.m. with the program scheduled to begin at 3:10 p.m.

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Mitt Romney will appear at a rally in St. Petersburg at Pier Park on Friday, his campaign announced today.

Romney last visited the crucial Sunshine State on Sept. 19 and 20, taping a Univision interview in Miami, appearing at a rally in Fort Myers and raising money in North Palm Beach.

Another poll Wednesday shows the race between President Obama and Republican Mitt Romney deadlocked in Florida, but gives Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson more breathing room in his contest with Republican Connie Mack IV.

Obama holds a 47-46 percent lead over Romney in a survey of 890 likely voters, according to the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted the Sept. 20-Oct. 1 poll for NBC News and the Wall Street Journal. The survey has a 3.3 percent margin-of-error.

Nelson, however, commands an 11 percentage point lead over Mack among likely voters, 52-41 percent, with only 7 percent undecided.

Suffolk University in Boston released a poll Tuesday showing Obama up by 3 percentage points in Florida, within that survey’s margin-of-error. Nelson held a more modest, 6 percentage point lead, Suffolk found.

In Marist’s survey of the presidential race, Obama has lost some of his once-sizable lead among women voters in Florida. A month ago, Obama held a 12 percentage point lead over Romney among women voters — with the margin now down to 3 percent in the latest survey.

Romney, too, has lost some of his dominance among men. Once ahead of Obama by 4 percentage points among men, Romney’s edge is now one percent, Marist found.

In Florida’s Senate contest, Nelson holds a six percentage point lead over Mack among men and a 15 percent margin among women voters.

A new poll shows President Obama holding a narrow lead over Republican Mitt Romney in Florida — with the state still living up to its toss-up status.

While Obama appeared to be widening his distance over Romney nationwide last week, Suffolk’s survey of 600 registered voters in Florida shows Obama’s 3 percentage point lead remains within the poll’s margin-of-error. Obama was up 46-43 percent, with seven percent of voters undecided.

“On the eve of the first debate, both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney know the importance of each percentage point in a state like Florida,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center in Boston.  “Not only are the remaining undecided voters critical, but so are the voters of all the third-party candidates here – and there are many.”

 The Suffolk University/7NEWS (WSVN-Miami) survey is the first taken in Florida this year that includes all 12 of the candidates who qualified to appear as presidential contenders on the Florida ballot.

 Libertarian Gary Johnson, Green Party nominee Jill Stein, and Peace and Freedom Party nominee Roseanne Barr were each favored by 1 percent of voters polled. In a state where the George W. Bush and Al Gore’s epic 2000 election deadlock was helped by third-party candidate Ralph Nader, these also-rans could loom as a factor in Florida’s final count.

The Florida Senate race also looks tougher to call in Suffolk’s survey.

Although Democrat Bill Nelson has built a commanding lead in many polls, Suffolk showed him holding a 40-34 percent lead over Republican Connie Mack, with 20 percent of voters still undecided.

 Other contenders on the Florida Senate ballot, Chris Borgia and Bill Gaylor, gain 4 percent and 1 percent, respectively, of the vote in the poll.

At least one partisan pollster is very wrong about the congressional District 18 race.

A few days after U.S. Rep. Allen West‘s pollster released a memo saying the incumbent holds a 52-to-41 percent lead over Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy, the Democratic House Majority PAC released a memo today saying Murphy leads West by a 52-to-43 percent margin.

The memo by Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group (as is typical of both Republican and Democratic internal polls, a memo but not the poll itself was released) says its sample for Palm Beach-Treasure Coast congressional District 18 was 44 percent Republican and 37 percent Democrat — a heavier Republican tilt than the actual district, where Republicans have a 2.2-percent registration edge.

The poll has a 4.9 percent margin of error. West has an underwater approval rating (40 percent positive, 47 percent negative) while Murphy is a little better than even (33 percent positive, 29 percent negative).

West’s poll says Mitt Romney is leading President Obama by 7 points in the district. The new Democratic poll says Obama holds a 7-point lead over Romney.

Democratic congressional challenger Patrick Murphy today is touting a Republican consulting firm’s poll that shows him with a 49-to-45 percent lead over U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Palm Beach Gardens.

But a look at the partisan breakdown in the poll by Massachusetts-based Kimball Political Consulting raises some questions. Although Republicans have a slight registration edge in Palm Beach-Treasure Coast District 18 (38.4 percent Republican, 36.2 percent Democrat, according to the Florida Division of Elections) the respondents to the survey were 44.6 percent Democratic and 33.3 percent Republican — an 11.3-percent Democratic edge.

The poll also shows President Obama leading Mitt Romney by 7 points in the district, which went 51 percent for Obama in 2008.

Two miles and a few economic strata from the site of Mitt Romney‘s “47 percent” remarks, Vice President Joe Biden told a retiree crowd today that Romney and running mate Paul Ryan don’t understand America and have “bet against the American people.”

Biden stumped for President Obama‘s reelection at the Century Village of Boca Raton retirement community. The legendary Democratic condo bastion is just down Lyons Road from Marc Leder‘s house in upscale Long Lake Estates, where Romney was secretly videotaped telling big-dollar donors in May that 47 percent of Americans are “dependent upon government” and won’t vote for him.

Biden said Romney’s remarks, and remarks by Ryan about a “culture of dependency” on government, show the Republican ticket is out of touch with ordinary Americans.

“I don’t recognize the country they’re talking about,” Biden told the crowd that filled the large lobby of a clubhouse building.

“I know where I come from, Americans got knocked down but they’re getting back up. I know where I come from, nobody feels dependent, all they want is an opportunity. I know where I come from, these people are fighting back with every single thing they have. I don’t sense any sense of dependency. They’re just looking for a little opportunity, a level playing field, a fair shot,” Biden said to loud applause

“Ladies and gentlemen, I got news for Gov. Romney and Congressman Ryan. America and Americans are neither dependent nor in decline. And I’ll say to them, gentlemen, it has never, never, never been a good bet to bet against the American people.”

Biden is scheduled to visit another heavily Democratic retiree crowd this afternoon at Kings Point in Tamarac. He’s also scheduled to campaign in Fort Myers on Saturday.

Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson and U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch and Debbie Wasserman Schultz also spoke to the crowd before Biden.

Biden made brief mention of Israel to heavily Jewish audience, while Deutch devoted a significant portion of his remarks to defending Obama’s support for the Jewish state. Republicans have tried to peel away traditionally strong Jewish support for Democrats by accusing Obama of being a weak ally of Israel.

After months of refusing to share or discuss internal polling, Republican U.S. Rep. Allen West‘s campaign today released a memo from its pollster saying West leads Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy by a 52-to-41 percent margin.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee last month said its polling showed the race a virtual tie, with Murphy holding a 47-to-46 percent lead within the margin of error. Murphy’s campaign released a poll in May showing a 45-to-45 percent tie.

The memo by West pollster Gene Ulm (neither side has released actual internal polls, only memos describing them) says the survey of 400 likely voters in Palm Beach-Treasure Coast District 18 was conducted Monday and Tuesday and has a 4.9 percent margin of error. The sample was 40 percent Republican and 38 percent Democrat, roughly in line with the 38.5-to-36.2 registration advantage the GOP holds in the district.

Ulm’s memo says 34 percent of voters view Murphy favorably and 33 percent unfavorably. The memo says Mitt Romney leads President Obama by a 51-to-44 percent margin in the district. Obama carried the district with 51 percent in 2008, the same percentage he got statewide.

Murphy consultant Eric Johnson dismissed the West poll as “cooked” and “skewed” and pointed to the 7-point Romney edge as evidence. Most statewide polls show Obama with a slight lead, and Johnson said District 18 is continuing to track with statewide trends in the presidential race.