Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi will co-host the GOP presidential debate on Fox News this weekend, according to a press release distributed by the Republican Party of Florida this morning.

Bondi, a Fox fave who often appeared on the news channel as a legal analyst before her election in January and a frequent guest star since, will join fellow Republican attorneys general Ken Kuccinelli of Virginia and E. Scott Pruitt of Oklahoma on former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s show Saturday night at 8 p.m.

Bondi is leading the charge in the multi-state federal health care lawsuit, launched by her predecessor Bill McCollum, now before the U.S. Supreme Court. Undoing the health care law is among the GOP presidential wannabes’ top campaign pledges.

“This forum is an excellent opportunity to engage each of the candidates in a candid conversation about issues that are important to voters in our state and across the nation,” Bondi said in the press release. “This will be a historic election, and I am excited to play a part in helping voters gain a better understanding of candidates’ beliefs on fundamental issues such as constitutionalism and the role of government.”

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum have all agreed to participate in the forum, according to the release.

Former Arkansas Gov. and 2008 Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has endorsed state Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, in Florida’s 2012 GOP Senate primary.

Haridopolos was an early Huckabee supporter during the 2008 campaign.

The backing of the former Baptist minister should help Haridopolos with the important social conservative segment of the Republican primary electorate.

Former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux and former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner are also vying for the right to challenge Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.

Read the statement from the Haridopolos campaign after the jump….

(more…)

Mitt Romney will stump with Marco Rubio in Tampa on Monday, Rubio’s U.S. Senate campaign announced today.

Former Florida House Speaker Rubio is likely trying to capitalize on GOP outrage over his primary opponent Gov. Charlie Crist’s veto of SB 6, the contentious teacher merit pay bill.

A recent poll showed Romney an early GOP presidential favorite in Florida in the 2012 election.

Rubio’s garnered the endorsements of both Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, whom Rubio threw his support behind in the 2008 presidential campaign.

Romney’s Free and Strong America PAC is also giving the maximum $5,000 contribution to Rubio, according to his campaign.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who keynoted Monday’s Forum Club of the Palm Beaches lunch, is the early 2012 presidential frontrunner among Florida Republicans, a Democratic polling firm says.

In the poll of 492 Florida Republican voters by North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling, Romney gets 52 percent to 21 percent for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and 18 percent for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Romney, Huckabee and Palin were the only choices given in the poll, which has a 4.4 percent margin of error.

Romney also leads the Republican pack in a PPP poll of Colorado.

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.”

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio received an endorsement this morning from Jeb Bush Jr. and is expected to receive another from former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, according to CNN.

The Huckabee endorsement comes a year after Rubio endorsed the former Arkansas governor in his presidential campaign. (The photo above includes – from left to right – Rubio, Huckabee and state Rep. David Rivera at a 2008 presidential campaign event.)

(more…)