Arizona Sen. John McCain, who effectively ended Mitt Romney‘s 2008 presidential hopes by defeating him in that year’s Florida primary, will hit the campaign trail for Romney on Thursday.

McCain will appear at town hall meetings in Sun City and Madeira Beach in the Tampa Bay area.

No immediate word on whether Romney will attend, but it seems unlikely considering he’s participating in a CNN debate in Jacksonville that night.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is planning a New Hampshire visit this week and a spokeswoman said Monday he will decide whether to run for president “very soon,” fanning a campaign flame he’s been kindling since at least spring, when he talked of running in a speech before the Palm Beach Republican Club.

Then, he hinted that he would run if the GOP would nominate a candidate hizzoner considered “too right-wing.” Now, he plans to meet with law enforcement officers, National Rifle Association members, and Dartmouth College faculty while he mulls another run.

Giuliani banked heavily on Florida when he ran for president in 2008. He finished third here, shouldered out when then-Gov. Charlie Crist endorsed eventual nominee John McCain. Giuliani ended his campaign a day later.

With the 2012 Republican presidential field still in flux, prospects of a Giuliani candidacy could be expected to draw buzz in South Florida, effectively New York’s sixth borough.

But Palm Beach County GOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein, a Giuliani fan, said it’s more likely the presidential profile of ‘America’s Mayor’ has waned.

“I just don’t think a lot of voters, especially newer voters, have stopped thinking of him,” Dinerstein said. “But this is a year when anything can happen. And when we have people still talking about jumping in, I think as a Republican, that says they think they can win.”

Political newbie Pam Bondi scooped her GOP rivals for attorney general with an endorsement today from conservative icon Sarah Palin.

Palin, who was Sen. John McCain’s running mate in the 2008 presidential election, backed Bondi along with a handful of other female GOP candidates throughout the country today.

“We desperately need these conservative leaders who won’t kowtow to the Obama administration’s big government overreach into our states, small businesses, families, and individual lives,” Palin wrote on her Facebook page about Bondi and Iowa attorney general candidate Brenna Findley.

Palin ‘s endorsement this late in the primary game could translate into some last-minute campaign cash for Bondi, a former prosecutor who’s kicking off a state-wide, four-day bus tour beginning tomorrow in Tallahassee.

The endorsement is a snub of Bondi’s opponent Holly Benson, a former Florida House member who also served under Gov. Charlie Crist as secretary of both the Department of Business and Professional Regulation and the Agency for Health Care Administration.

Benson recently launched a television ad in which she calls both Bondi and the third GOP AG candidate Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp liberals.

Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin told National Review on Tuesday that she’s considering an endorsement in the Florida’s Republican U.S. Senate primary between Gov. Charlie Crist and former House speaker Marco Rubio:

She says she’s had a chance to look at the Crist-Rubio race “just on the surface.” But she adds, “I’m just being asked about it really in the last week or two, so I’ll dig more into it. I’ll find out what the guys are holding in terms of positions and see where maybe I can help.”

Keep in mind that her 2008 running mate, John McCain, has endorsed Crist. And with the McCain & Palin camps already trading blows in the wake of the former Alaska governor’s Going Rogue biography, imagine the potential sideshow a proxy fight could set off if Palin lines up behind Rubio…

Palin will be in Florida on Tuesday for her book tour:

*Noon: Jacksonville, Books-A-Million, 1910 Wells Road.

*4 p.m.: The Villages, Barnes & Noble, 1055 Old Camp Road, Lake Sumter Market Square.

*7 p.m.: Orlando, Barnes & Noble, Colonial Plaza, 2418 East Colonial Drive.

Associated Industries of Florida sent a press release demanding an investigation of Public Service Commissioner Nancy Argenziano to Florida Power & Light Co. for review yesterday, officials for both groups said.

A version of the release posted on The Sayfie Review shows the author of the release as “FPL_User” last saved by “Lisa Garcia” and the company as “Florida Power & Light.”

Lisa Garcia works for Ron Sachs Communications, the Tallahassee-based PR agency handling media for AIF on the issue.

AIF has joined FPL in support of its requested $1.3 billion base rate hike.

FPL is a member of the business backed association that refuses to reveal its membership or how much they pay to belong to the group.

The latest bit of drama in the FPL/Argenziano/PSC serial unfolds as the regulatory panel is scheduled to vote on the Juno Beach-based utility proposed $200 million rate increase to cover the costs of nuclear plants not yet built.

Sachs executive Alia Faraj, a former spokeswoman for Gov. Jeb Bush, said that her shop crafted the press release and gave it to FPL.
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Whether they’re running for president or a state House seat, Republicans in need of campaign cash often find their way to Bill Diamond’s Palm Beach home.

Florida Attorney General and 2010 governor candidate Bill McCollum will be the latest GOP office-seeker to belly up to Diamond’s political ATM when he attends a fund-raising lunch there Wednesday.

A veteran of New York City Republican politics, the 73-year-old Diamond co-owns a real estate business and was elected to the Palm Beach town council this year.

He was a regional administrator for the U.S. General Services Administration under Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush, then was former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani’s commissioner of administrative services from 1994 to 2001.

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In a preview of their upcoming book, The Battle for America 2008, Washington Post reporters Dana Balz & Haynes Johnson write that Gov. Charlie Crist was among John McCain’s six finalists for vice president:

McCain’s search for a running mate had started in the spring with about two dozen names. Palin was not a serious candidate. One person said she wasn’t even on the initial list; others said she was — barely. It was only later in the summer, when the campaign team became alarmed at the size of Obama’s lead among women, that she was added to the list of genuine contenders. “Toward the end of the process, in July, we started taking a look at, like okay, who are we missing? Let’s take a sharper look at women candidates and try that one more time,” Davis said. “That’s when Palin came on.” Palin, he added, “stood out significantly from the rest of that list.”

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State Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, was an early supporter of John McCain’s 2008 presidential bid when former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was the GOP presidential frontrunner in the state.

McCain returned the favor today, endorsing Bogdanoff in her bid for the seat of state Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, who’s giving up the seat next year to run for chief financial officer.

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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.

(Continue reading for additional reporting)

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A new poll by Public Policy Polling shows that Barack Obama has rebounded in Florida and now holds a razor-thin edge over John McCain in the state.

But the poll also outlines potential trouble for U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez. In a hypothetical 2010 matchup against Florida CFO Alex Sink, Martinez trails 31 percent to 37 percent. Against U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, the poll shows both candidates at 33 percent with undecided at 34 percent.

The poll is good news for Obama, who trailed McCain 50-39 in March, at the height of the contrversy over Obama’s former pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

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“I very much oppose the Bush-McCain proposal to open up Florida’s shores for drilling,” U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings said this afternoon in a statement.

“I am also not only surprised, but disappointed, in the governor. Since the people of Florida have long opposed drilling off of our pristine beaches, it is even more surprising that the so-called ‘People’s Governor,’ would take a different view.

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In case there’s any doubt that John McCain’s offshore drilling proposal has become a poltical football, all nine of the state’s Democratic members signed a statement today slamming the idea.

“We view it as a political gimmick that will not lower gas prices for consumers but could have real and tragic consequences for Florida’s economy and natural environment,” the Democrats said. “While President Bush, Senator McCain, Big Oil, and perhaps even our governor are willing to put Florida’s vital tourism and fishing economies at risk for a small amount of oil and gas, we are not willing to do so.

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Bob Graham, Florida’s former governor and U.S. senator, just told reporters on a telephone conference call organized by the Obama campaign that voters will realize proposals to allow offshore oil drilling won’t affect gasoline prices.

“There have been more politicians who went to the graveyard because they thought their voters were stupid and could be sold a bogus bill of goods than probably for any other reason,” Graham said.

“Our people are not stupid. They understand that the time that would be required to go through all the processes of leasing the property, having the winning bidders put their pipes down for exploration and then for exploitation, and that that’s going to take years and years and that this issue has nothing to do with the current prices of gasolione…I don’t think you can sell that.”

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Sen. Mel Martinez just told reporters he wants to hear more from John McCain about the presumptive GOP nominee’s drilling plan, but if it protects Florida he’ll support it.

“My hope is that he will understand the need to maintain the law as we passed it in 2006 which gives Florida a 125-mile buffer in the Gulf of Mexico,” Martinez said.

“With that understanding, then I think the rest of it is something I can probably live with,” Martinez said. “I think it’s about providing enough resources where the states want to do it and permit it.”

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Sen. Bill Nelson just told reporters on a conference call the he was surprised at what he called McCain’s “flip flop” on offshore drilling. Nelson noted that McCain opposed offshore drilling when he ran for president in 2000.

Nelson said the drilling issue would mark a clear difference between McCain and Barack Obama, who opposes offshore drilling and has called for greater investments in alternative energy sources.

“For a major candidate for president to say that his answer is to drill off the coast of the United States, it just shows a lack of vision and one that is not grounded in reality,” Nelson said.

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Add author to Sen. Mel Martinez’s list of titles. Florida’s junior senator’s memoir, “A Sense of Belonging,” subtitled: “From Castro’s Cuba to the U.S. Senate, One Man’s Pursuit of the American Dream” is due out Aug. 5.

The 256-page tome being published by Random House — at a list price of $26.95 — recalls Martinez’s childhood in Cuba, his flight at age 15 to the United States as part of Operation Pedro Pan, his adolescence in Florida and rise to become Orange County mayor, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs under President Bush, and finally the first Cuban-born member of the U.S. Senate.

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If anyone doubts the Republicans are serious about wooing Hispanic voters this fall, check out this statement from Republican National Committee Chairman Robert M. “Mike” Duncan. The e-mail says it’s a “statement on Cinco de Mayo” although those words aren’t used in the statement:

“Today, we honor the brave soldiers who fought and prevailed at the Battle of the Puebla in 1862. Though greatly outnumbered, their small army won in the name of liberty and freedom for Mexico. We commemorate on this day the many contributions Mexican Americans have made and are making everyday.

“As a Party, we commit ourselves to the issues that affect all Americans, including Hispanics and offer solutions that support small businesses, diversity, and education. With Senator John McCain as our presumptive presidential nominee, our Party will continue to support the American Dream and offer opportunities to make it a reality.”

The next Republican presidential candidate will need to carry roughly 50 percent of the Hispanic vote in order to be elected in November, U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez said Wednesday.

Martinez, the only Cuban-born member of the U.S. Senate and one of three Hispanic members of the body, told a luncheon audience of the Latino Leaders Network that the Hispanic vote already has played a crucial role in this year’s presidential contest and could help determine the outcome.

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Gov. Charlie Crist said he’s not “running” for vice president and has “no idea” if he’s being considered by Sen. John McCain to be his runningmate.

Talking with reporters after attending a luncheon meeting with GOP senators — including McCain — at the U.S. Capitol, Crist said: “I’m focused on being the best governor I can for the citizens of Florida and that takes up the lion’s share of my time.”

When Crist was asked by a reporter if he would turn down the vice presidential nomination if asked, Sen. Mel Martinez leaped to his rhetorical rescue.

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Jeb Bush, who turns 55 today, decided to give John McCain a gift – his endorsement.

Golly. . .when was the Florida primary?

The Q bets Mike Huckabee is really steamed – there goes the election.

In a statement from the McCain campaign both men say the other is really swell.

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