Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw endorsed state Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, for attorney general today, our Andrew Marra reports from the Port of Palm Beach.

Aronberg is trumpeting it as the first endorsement by a law enforcement official in the Democratic AG primary. But rival state Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, suggests he earned that distinction when he received the backing of former U.S. Attorney General and 2002 Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Janet Reno.

Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno endorsed state Sen. Dan Gelber for Florida attorney general today.

“Dan has the gumption and spirit to make the Attorney General’s office a vital force in the lives of Floridians,” Reno said in a press release issued today, saying Gelber would make a “splendid” AG.

Gelber, a former federal prosecutor from Miami Beach, is running in a primary against fellow Democratic state senator Dave Aronberg of Greenacres to replace Attorney General Bill McCollum, who is leaving office after one term to run for governor.

Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp is the leading GOP candidate in the race so far.

Reno, a Miami native, served under President Bill Clinton as the first female U.S. Attorney General.

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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