Broward College president Dave Armstrong told the House Education Committee on Tuesday that “there is no more low-hanging fruit,” when it comes to cutting costs at the state’s 28 colleges.

A half-dozen college presidents testified about the struggles the schools face and how they’re trying to maintain low costs at the increasingly crowded schools. More adjunct faculty members are being hired and programs trimmed. So far, though, no mention of administrative salaries at the schools, something Gov. Rick Scott has questioned, primarily at Florida’s 11 public universities.

Those testifying Tuesday draw hefty state paychecks, according to the Florida Department of Education. Tuesday’s lineup, and their base salaries:

Broward College’s  J. David Armstrong: $329,015; Daytona State College’s Carol Eaton: $265,000; Indian River State College: Edwin Massey: $249,300; St. Johns River State College: Joe Pickens: $302,690; St. Petersburg College: William Law: $330,000. 

Most of Florida’s college presidents also have a car allowance, and a half-dozen receive a housing allowance. Most college chiefs also get deferred compensation, ranging from about $15,000 to as much as $98,500, state records show.

Sources close to Democratic congressional candidate Patrick Murphy say he’s giving serious thought to following U.S. REp Allen West, R-Plantation, and leaving District 22 to run in a new Palm Beach-Treasure Coast District 18.

West’s move lets him run in a more Republican district since state lawmakers are about to make his old district more Democratic. For Murphy, the move would avoid a primary against Lois Frankel.

Frankel could get some Democratic company in her race. There’s speculation that Democratic Broward Commissioners John Rodstrom and Kristin Jacobs could jump into the District 22 race.

Republican Adam Hasner is also expected to drop his Senate bid for a District 22 run.

As a small number of last-minute voters arrived at St. Edward Church this evening, Beverly White Yeager held high a Mitt Romney campaign sign on the sidewalk.

White said she stood outside with the sign for about four hours this morning, but came back tonight to be sure she got as many Romney supporters as possible.

“I know it’s the only way we are going to bring back America,” she said.

Earlier today, Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher said St. Edward was one of the busiest precints during today’s primary.

Polls closed at 7 p.m.

CELEBRATION — A constant critic of his millionaire opponent’s wild spending, Newt Gingrich raised nearly $10 million in the last three months of last year but ended 2011 about $1.2 million in debt, according to a campaign finance report filed today.

The Associated Press said the report showed the GOP presidential candidate started the year with about $2 million in the bank.

A Gingrich spokesman said roughly half came from people who gave more than $250 while the other half was from those who gave $250 or less.

“We are a campaign of small dollar donations,” R.C. Hammond told reporters as the former House speaker wrapped up his election day campaigning. Hammond said about 200,000 small-dollar donations have been made to the campaign this year.

His campaign told the Associated Press that the campaign has raised about $5 million since Gingrich’s surprise victory in South Carolina earlier this month.

All candidates have to file their reports by midnight. Reports filed by Gingrich’s chief rival, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, weren’t available. As of Sept. 30, Romney had raised $32.6 million, compared to Gingrich’s $2.9 million.

Polls at Wellington City Hall were empty this afternoon, and a city official said only about 100 voters had come in all day.

One Wellington resident said she brought a book to kill time while she waited in line, but was able to vote in less than five minutes. No one was inside the precinct.

Nearby, at St. Peter’s United Methodist Church, two poll workers were chatting outside, while the precinct was empty.

Elections officials expect crowds to pick up after 5 p.m., when voters leave work. Polls close at 7 p.m.

U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, announced that he’ll run for reelection in a newly drawn seat on Florida’s west coast — potentially leaving a Palm Beach County -Treasure Coast seat open for U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation.

West’s current Palm Beach-Broward seat has been redrawn with a heavily Democratic tilt, raising speculation he’d run elsewhere.

West wasn’t immediately reachable this afternoon, but many Republicans have been trying to persuade Rooney to move west to clear the path for West.

Here’s Rooney’s statement:

“I am excited to announce that I will be running for reelection in the new Congressional District 17. Over the last four years, I have had the honor of representing a large portion of the population of the newly drawn 17th district. The people of this district have always been good to me, and I look forward to representing this region for another two years. I will continue to make sure their calls for a smaller and more responsible government, a strong national defense, a prosperous economy, and much-needed private sector jobs are heard in Washington.”
“Congressional District 17 will be the largest agricultural district in Florida and one of the largest in the country, and the farmers here are among the nation’s leaders in beef and dairy production. As a member of the House Agriculture Committee, and the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry, I will continue to be a strong voice for the people of this district. A vibrant agricultural industry is not only the backbone of this district, but a key driver of both our state and national economies, and I believe that I can best serve the people of Florida as a leader on the Agriculture Committee and a Representative of Florida’s new 17th district.”

“With my current district, Florida’s 16th, essentially cut in half during the redistricting process, I had a difficult decision to make. Barring .

CELEBRATION – The Florida campaign for Newt Gingrich is over. Now, it’s just a matter of waiting for the results.

After spending nearly an hour shaking hands and signing autographs with supporters who lined up outside a polling place in this Disney-created community near Orlando this afternoon, the GOP presidential hopeful climbed back aboard his “Rebuilding the America We Love” campaign bus and drove off. Next up: His election night party at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando.

He didn’t address the media at any of the four stops he made today in Central Florida. When a scrum of reporters crowded around, he would sometimes say that he was “uniting conservatives” or mention the “dishonest” ads chief rival Mitt Romney has been running.

His press secretary said that regardless of what happens in Florida tonight, the former House speaker is committed to campaigning in every state. Tea Party voters will give him the edge over chief rival, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, said R.C. Hammond.

“We will compete in every contest the country has to offer,” Hammond said. “In a race where the media’s picked frontrunner hasn’t broken 50 percent that leaves a lot of math out there for the conservative side of the party to take up which is how we’ll stay competitive in the nomination, which is why it will last late into the spring because we’ll continue to bring in delegates, we’ll continue to bring in large amounts of support.

“At the end of the day,” he concluded, “as long as Tea Party voters continue to come our way, we’ll do very well.”

While larger crowds of voters filled Palm Beach County precincts this morning and at lunch, precincts are not that busy this afternoon, according to elections officials.

An election deputy at Precinct 1066, located at the West Jupiter Recreation Center, said only about 200 people had voted as of 1:15 p.m., despite the fact that this precinct has 1,166 registered Republicans, the third largest number in the county.

Susan Bucher, Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections, said she’s seen a ”steady clip of voters” visiting polls, and she expects polls to get busier after voters finish their workday.

“But we won’t really know until polls close,” she said outside the recreation center.

Before visiting precincts in Jupiter, Bucher stopped by Howard Park in West Palm Beach, where she told Palm Beach Post photographer Lannis Waters that ”things are pretty smooth. There’s a steady clip of voters.” Only 35 people had voted at Howard Park as of 1 p.m., Bucher said.

Bucher also visited St. Edward Church in Palm Beach, the busiest precinct so far, she said. As of 1 p.m., 272 people at voted at St. Edward, which has 1,200 registered Republicans, the second largest in the county.

It’s not easy being a Ron Paul supporter on election day in Florida, what with your candidate in Nevada, having never scheduled one campaign event in the Sunshine State.

But Paul supporters have been out today nonetheless. Waving signs, they have turned up at events scheduled by GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich. The former House speaker, who is lagging in the polls, is touring Central Florida, grabbing voters and all-important press coverage as voters decide the state’s winner-take-all Republican primary.

When Gingrich made an early morning stop at a polling place in Windermere, Paul supporter Eddie Dillard learned that supporting the Texas congressman at Gingrich events can be risky. Showing reporters a goose-egg on his foot, he claimed he was stomped by a Gingrich supporter/security worker when he waved his sign as television cameras rolled.
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JACKSONVILLE – GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich is claiming he won a backhanded endorsement from George Soros, the billionaire backer of all things liberal.

In an interview with Reuters over the weekend, Soros said he wouldn’t be worried if former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney replaced President Obama.

“Well, look, either you’ll have an extremist conservative, be it Gingrich or Santorum, in which case I think it will make a big difference which of the two comes in,” Soros was quoted as saying. “If it’s between Obama and Romney, there isn’t all that much difference except for the crowd that they bring with them.”

Gingrich crowed about Soros’ statement this morning, claiming it shows who is the true conservative in the race.

“It makes no difference to us whether it’s Romney or Obama it makes no difference either one, but Gingrich, that would be a real threat,” he said, paraphrasing Soros.
“It’s actually so perfect you would think we made it up.”

JACKSONVILLE – The best moment of Newt Gingrich’s day on Sunday came when he went to Mass at night and learned Catholic bishops share his outrage over President Obama’s health care package, he said today.

As happened in Catholic churches across the nation, the priest at the church Gingrich and his wife attended read a letter, protesting a proposal that would require most employer-sponsored health plans to offer women contraceptive services, including sterilization.

“The Obama is engaged in a war against religion,” he told a small group that gathered in a hotel conference room to send him off on his last full-day of campaigning in the state. The proposed requirement, he said, “is in direct violation of freedom of religion and an example of the increasingly dictatorial attitude of this administration.”
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JACKSONVILLE – Lauding two polls that he said show him closing the gap with rival Mitt Romney, GOP president hopeful Newt Gingrich began his last day of campaigning before Florida’s winner-take-all primary with the son of a Republican icon by his side.

After introducing the late President Ronald Reagan’s son, Michael, to about 100 supporters in a hotel conference room, Gingrich talked polls. He pointed out that a new Insider Advantage poll shows him 5 points behind the former Massachusetts governor. The poll, with a margin of error of 3.8 percent, shows Romney with 36 percent support of likely Republican voters and Gingrich with 31 percent.

Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul both had 12 percent support among voters. Another 9 percent of GOP voters were undecided.

Public Policy Polling found Romney leading with 40 percent and Gingrich with 32 percent. Santorum had 15 percent and Paul 9 percent.

“We have closed the gap a lot according to Insider Advantage,” Gingrich said. “We have a chance now, in the next 24 hours to finish the job.”

He was referring to a weekend poll that showed him down by 11 points. However, Public Policy Polling said all polls are showing the same trend: strong movement away from Gingrich and toward Romney.

While clearly not writing off Florida, Gingrich said regardless of what happens in the Sunshine State on Tuesday, he’s not conceding the nomination to Romney, who he has branded a liberal.

“The last three national polls I was ahead of Romney. Why would people wonder what I’m going to do?” he asked. “The idea that the conservative movement is going to roll over and give up, it’s not going to happen.”

THE VILLAGES – The feisty, cantankerous, sarcastic and biting Newt Gingrich was back.

While that well-known side of Gingrich largely disappeared late last week, notably during a listless performance at a nationally-television debate, it came back today when he was speaking to some 3,000 supporters in this sprawling retirement community south of Ocala.

In a roughly 30-minute speech, the GOP presidential hopeful called chief rival Mitt Romney a liberal. He pounded the podium as he swore he would dismantle both the Republican and Democrat establishments in Washington. He portrayed President Obama as a naïve dreamer who doesn’t understand the threats facing the world. He scorned the intelligence community’s ineptitude for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“Kick Butt and Take Names,” Don Doggett, 73, said of the former House Speaker’s demeanor. “I’m for that.”

John West, a fellow member of the Still Kickin’ bluegrass band, agreed. “What we don’t need in Washington is a panty waist,” he said.

It was his only speech of the day. While he made three stops as he made his way from Tampa to Jacksonville two days before Tuesday’s election, the other two were at Baptist churches. He attended the services and shook hands with members of the congregation.

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THE VILLAGES – Mitt Romney is no long a mere moderate, according to Newt Gingrich. He’s a full blown liberal.

Campaigning in front of as many as 3,000 retirees under the blazing Florida sun, Gingrich blasted his chief GOP presidential rival for claiming he wasn’t a good friend and close policy adviser to President Ronald Reagan.

To show how wrong the former Massachusetts governor is about his relationship with the Republican icon, Gingrich said the late president’s son, Michael, will be campaigning with him Monday when he crisscrosses the state on one last attempt to woo voters before Tuesday’s primary.

“Michael will be here tomorrow to prove to every doubting person that I am the legitimate heir of the Reagan movement not some liberal from Massachusetts,” he said.

THE VILLAGES – While campaigning this week in Florida, one of GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s favorite lines is that he’ll be the “paycheck president,” while President Obama has been the “food stamp president.”

The line, that always gets laughs, cheers or at least applause, has come under fire from pundits who believe it smacks of racism.

Speaking to a sign-waving, cheering crowd of roughly 3,000 in this sprawling retirement community south of Ocala, he went after his favorite target – the media – for creating an issue where none exists.

“The news guys just seem fascinated with this,” he said. “They say if you use the word food stamps it must have some deep, underlying racial connotation.”

A chant of “No! No!” rippled through the crowd.

“No,” the former House Speaker agreed. “It’s a fact this is the most effective food stamp president in American history. His policies of killing jobs have pushed more Americans onto food stamps than any president in American history.

His explanation is unlikely to quell criticism about his choice of phrase.

In a column this week for CNN, author Walter Mosley was among those who took Gingrich to task for knowingly using a emotionally-charged buzzword to deride the nation’s first African-American president.

He wrote: “Newt Gingrich … knows full well that calling someone a “food stamp president” brings up the working person’s fear, looming reality, and in some cases the actual experience, of unemployment – while making a shout-out to racism and affixing a stigma to poverty. All the while hiding behind the symbol of a flag.”

NAPLES — With polls showing him climbing to a commanding lead before Tuesday’s Republican presidential primary, Mitt Romney drew his biggest Sunshine State crowd today and mocked GOP rival Newt Gingrich as “Goldilocks,” then accused the former House speaker of being an accessory to the state’s mortgage meltdown.

The crowd at a downtown retail area topped 2,000, one Naples police officer estimated.

Former U.S. Sen. Connie Mack and his son, U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, R-Cape Coral, introduced Romney at the midday event. Romney campaigns later today in Hialeah and Pompano Beach.

Romney, who dominated a pair of GOP debates last week, accused Gingrich of being “like Goldilocks” because he complained a Monday night debate crowd was ordered to be silent and one of his aides said the Romney camp “packed the room” for a louder Thursday debate.

“He’s now finding excuses everywhere he can. He’s on TV this morning going from station to station complaining about what he thinks are the reasons he’s had difficulty here in Florida,” Romney said.

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LUTZ- No matter what happens in Florida on Tuesday, the race to determine who will be the the GOP’s presidential choice isn’t going to end anytime soon.

“We will go all the way to the convention,” candidate Newt Gingrich pledged today. “I believe the Republican Party will not nominate a pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-tax increase moderate from Massachusetts. I think they will not nominate someone who raises millions from Wall Street to run ads that are false.

“This is going to be a straight up contest for the next four or five months,” he said.

Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who has denied Gingrich’s characterization of him, holds a commanding 11-percent lead of Gingrich, according to weekend polls.

LUTZ – Minutes after attending a “Sanctity of Life” worship service at the cavernous Exciting Idlewild Baptist Church outside Tampa, GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich dismissed weekend polls that showed him trailing leader Mitt Romney by 11 points headed into Tuesday’s election.

“The race is substantially closer than the polls suggest,” he told reporters. Saturday’s endorsements from former former presidential rival Herman Cain and right-wing darling Sarah Palin and his continued support from Michael Reagan, the iconic Republican president’s son, show who in the race is the true conservative, he said.

Besides, he said, “Ronald Reagan was 30 points behind Jimmy Carter and he beat him with a bigger number of votes than Roosevelt beat Hoover.”

The Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald/Bay News 9 showed the former Massachusetts governor with a commanding 42 to 31 percent lead over Gingrich. It also uncovered a significant gender gap between the two candidates.

While tied among likely male voters, Romney commands a 19 point lead among women, the poll found.

“I have no idea,” he said when asked why he might not be attracting female voters. “I’ve never seen the numbers.”

Pundits have suggested that it might be his two failed marriages. He began have an affair with his current wife, Callista, while still married to his second wife.

The infidelity issue isn’t a deal-breaker for evangelicals, said Todd Graves, who watched Gingrich work the crowd after the service.

“As Christians, we’re taught that forgiveness is at the heart of Christianity,” he said. “He said he has asked for forgiveness and regrets what he did. I have to accept what he says is true. It’s not up to me to judge. That’s between him and God.”

Outside the church, Gingrich said that evangelical leaders throughout the state are backing him because they believe he is the only candidate who can beat Romney, a Mormon, and bring Christian values back to the White House.

“I believe life begins at conception,” he said. While he said he opposes using embryonic stems cells for research, he said he isn’t against in vitro fertilization. However, he said, he wants to know more about what is done with unused fertilized eggs.

Despite those views, Grave said, Gingrich won’t get his vote. He supported Romney in 2008 and switched from Gingrich to Cain to former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum this year. He said he will likely vote for Santorum Tuesday, even though he has little chance of winning the state’s winner-take-all primary.

Graves said he has watched Gingrich since he led the House in the 1990s with his Contract With American. “I think Gingrich is eventually going to implode because that is his history,” he said.

WEST PALM BEACH — One-time Newt Gingrich rival Herman Cain officially endorsed Gingrich Saturday night at the Lincoln Day Dinner at the Kravis Center, calling Gingrich a patriot and saying he’s not afraid of bold ideas.

“I know that Speaker Gingrich is a patriot, Speaker Gingrich is not afraid of bold ideas,” Cain said. “I also know Speaker Gingrich is running for president and going through this sausage grinder, and I know what this sausage grinder is all about. I know that he’s going through this sausage grinder because he cares about the future of the United States of America.

“I am inspired, you are inspired, Speaker Gingrich is inspired because it’s not about us. It’s about the grandkids.”

Gingrich referred to ‘Team of Rivals,’ the book about Lincoln’s presidency. Gingrich has now secured the endorsement of Cain and former GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry.

“I knew his central passion was jobs, economic growth and tax reform,” Gingrich said of Cain.

Gingrich said he hopes Cain will co-chair a commission on jobs and economic growth. He said Cain has actually managed a company and will “be a great asset.”

After the speech, Cain told The Palm Beach Post that he plans to be both active and vocal in Gingrich’s campaign.

“Newt embraces 9-9-9, we talked about it,” Cain said. “He doesn’t have to be out there carrying the flag, that’s my job. The fact is that I’m going to be a key player on his economic growth and job advisory panel.”

Despite polls showing Romney leapfrogging Gingrich in Florida, Cain said he thinks Gingrich “has that spark back.”

“I think that where people think he lost his spark was temporary, and you can’t let that one moment represent all of the other wonderful things he’s said, all of the wonderful things he’s done,” Cain said. “If people listen to his ideas and not listen to his distractions, they’ll see that spark.”

Cain said he decided to endorse Gingrich weeks ago, but felt this was the right time to made it public.

“Some endorsements have little impact, some endorsements have a big impact, and we will see on Tuesday,” Cain said. “But my philosophy has always been the voters will decide. I just want my supports to know how I felt at this moment in time.”