News broke last month that former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee was going to endorse Marco Rubio in the GOP U.S. Senate primary against Gov. Charlie Crist. And the official announcement was released today in a video (above).

Huckabee notes Rubio’s historic rise to House speaker and labels Rubio “the principled conservative Republican candidate” in the race. He says it’s “real easy for me to endorse Marco Rubio.”

“Marco Rubio understands that its the private sector that creates jobs and all of the ridiculous government bailouts only do one thing: create more power for government and less power for people,” Huckabee says. “Marco loves liberty.”

There are 26 Republicans in the Florida Senate. So far, at least seven of them have taken sides in the emerging GOP primary battle between Wellington Councilwoman Lizbeth Benacquisto and former state Rep. Sharon Merchant of Palm Beach Gardens for the seat of Democratic Sen. Dave Aronberg, who’s running for attorney general.

Benacquisto has a fund-raiser in Tallahassee next week with five state Senators on the host committee: President Jeff Atwater of North Palm Beach, Majority Leader Alex Diaz de la Portilla of Miami, Don Gaetz of Niceville, Andy Gardiner of Orlando and soon-to-retire Ken Pruitt of Port St. Lucie.

Merchant has not formally opened a campaign, but Republican Sens. Nancy Detert of Venice and Paula Dockery of Lakeland say they’ll be on her team. Many insiders also predict that Sen. Alex Villalobos of Miami, who was defeated by Atwater in a GOP leadership struggle, will take sides with Merchant against Atwater’s favored candidate. Villalobos couldn’t be reached today.

Snaring an endorsement from his rival’s back yard, state Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, announced today that he has received the support of Palm Beach County Tax Collector Anne Gannon in the Democratic primary for attorney general.

Gannon is a former Democratic legislator who served with Gelber in the state House from 2000 to 2006. She also served in the Palm Beach County legislative delegation with state Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, who’s running against Gelber in the Democratic AG primary.

“I served with Dan Gelber and he is the definition of a leader,” Gannon said in a statement released by the Gelber campaign. “He has the unique combination of force and personality that brings people together and empathy to be able to understand the needs and struggles of everyday Floridians.”

Democrat Kendrick Meek, far left, received an endorsement for U.S. Senate this morning from West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel. Meek, a Miami congressman, picked up an endorsement yesterday from Broward County Mayor Stacey Ritter. Frankel and Ritter are both Democrats.

TALLAHASSEE — John McCain on Wednesday became the fifth Republican U.S. senator to endorse Gov. Charlie Crist and his bid to join them in Washington. But some Florida Re publicans are wondering whether the move will backfire on the governor.

An endorsement from GOP leaders in Washington is not necessarily a plus, Palm Beach County Republican Party Chairman Sid Dinerstein said.

“They are negatives,” Dinerstein said. “These are the men who brought the party down.”

Crist is facing a primary challenge from former state House Speaker Marco Rubio. That election is not until Aug. 24, 2010.

But in the eight days since Crist announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate, he has lined up support from several GOP senators: McCain, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, John Cornyn of Texas and Florida’s Mel Martinez.

Crist endorsed Martinez in the 2004 Republican primary with Bill McCollum.

“This race is not going to be decided in Tallahassee or Washington, D.C.,” Rubio spokesman Brian Seitchik said. “Voters are going to have a clear choice for the future of the Republican Party.”

Crist and McCain have traded endorsements for the past several years.

McCain supported Crist in his 2006 campaign for governor and Crist returned the favor last year, when McCain was on his way to winning the party’s presidential nomination. Mc-Cain is the last Republican to win a statewide primary in Florida.

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It depends on what the meaning of “received” is.

Find out how the recent one-vote Palm Beach mayor’s race could end up setting statewide precedent. Plus: Is the vaunted Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce losing its mojo? What’s U.S. Rep. Ron Klein’s explanation for not cosponsoring Big Labor’s top congressional priority? Will Art Argenio and Joe Negron — the Frazier and Ali of Treasure Coast Republican politics — beat each other up again?

Read about it here.