Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum edged out Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, a Democrat, by 38-34 percent in the latest Quinnipiac University poll. Twenty percent of the state’s likely voters polled remain undecided.

That flip-flops Sink’s 38-34 percent lead among likely Florida voters two months ago. Sink remains relatively unknown to Floridians, according to the poll from Aug. 12-17 of 1,136 likely voters. Nearly two-thirds of those polled said they don’t know enough about her to have an opinion of her job performance.

McCollum and Sink are both leaving office after one term in pursuit of the governor’s mansion. Gov. Charlie Crist is also vacating after one term to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, who stepped down before his first term in Washington is complete.

The poll also shows Crist with a healthy 55-26 percent lead over GOP primary opponent, former House Speaker Marco Rubio. In June, Crist held a 54-23 percent margin over Rubio.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin phoned former Vice President Dick Cheney, Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist in May, ABC News reported this morning.

Spokesmen for Palin and Crist declined to comment on the topic for conversation.

“GOV: Telephone Call Into Governor Crist,” reads a May 4 entry in Palin’s schedule. A spokeswoman for Crist said she did not know who had initiated contact, or what the subject of conversation was to have been, but the two did not speak. “It was a courtesy call. They know each other, both being governors,” said Crist spokeswoman Erin Isaac.

Meanwhile, check out our new topic in The Forum, which asks the state’s political strategists to make sense out of Palin’s surprising resignation.

Former state representative Joe Negron will face off against Democratic challenger Bill Ramos and a virtually unknown write-in candidate in a special election Aug. 4 to replace retiring Sen. Ken Pruitt.

Negron avoided a potentially nasty GOP contest when his political nemesis Art Argenio suddenly dropped out of the race last week under pressure from Republican leaders to avoid a divisive primary. Argenio had sunk $40,000 of his own money into his ill-fated campaign.

Pruitt, who served as senate president two years ago, stepped down from his senate seat a year before he would have been forced to retire due to term limits. He announced his decision on the last day of the legislative session and has already been hired by a Boca Raton law firm specializing in land use and zoning issues.

Pruitt and former Gov. Jeb Bush have both endorsed Negron, adding to Argenio’s decision not to seek the post.

It would have been the second special election show-down for Negron and Argenio, who both served in the state House.

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In tough economic times, high turnover on the Palm Beach County commission provides a boost to local portrait photographers. Read about it here.

Gov. Charlie Crist will interview four finalists next week to replace Palm Beach County Commissioner Addie Greene, who’s stepping down April 30 for health reasons.

Click here to find out who’s in the running.

Through the wife’s county commission votes, she and her husband profited for a decade or more.

On Friday, both paid a price.

At a 10:30 a.m. hearing, former Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty pleaded guilty to conspiring to deprive the public of her honest services. She is scheduled to be sentenced June 4 to as much as five years in prison.

At 3 p.m., a federal judge sentenced Kevin McCarty, ex-chairman of the South Florida Water Management District, to eight months in prison, forfeiture of the couple’s $272,000 in ill-gotten gains and a $5,000 fine. He’s scheduled to enter prison near Miami on May 4.

Read the rest of the story from Tony Doris here.

With Gov. Charlie Crist’s office accepting applications for the second time this year to fill a vacant Palm Beach County commission seat, the list of would-be commissioners is looking very familiar.

Eight of the 19 people applying to replace Commissioner Addie Greene (who’s leaving April 30 because of health concerns) also applied to Crist after Mary McCarty resigned in January.

Two wannabes rate special mention. Former Boca Raton mayor Emil Danciu and former Belle Glade and Pahokee city manager Vincent Finizio have applied for both the Greene and McCarty vacancies as well as the 2007 opening when Warren Newell stepped down.

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Moments after he was sworn in as the newest Palm Beach County commissioner this morning, Steven Abrams invoked another unelected Republican who came to office to replace a disgraced predecessor.

Abrams, appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist after Mary McCarty resigned in a corruption scandal, referred to Gerald Ford’s famous quote upon succeeding Richard Nixon in 1974: “I am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your president by your ballots. So I ask you to confirm me with your prayers.”

Our Jennifer Sorentrue reports on it here.

Before he’s even sworn in as Palm Beach County’s latest (but not last) commission appointee, Steven Abrams has to wonder whether fellow Republicans will give him a clear shot at getting elected next year.

He’s slated to take the oath Tuesday after being tapped by Gov. Charlie Crist to replace disgraced Mary McCarty.

Democrats, who now outnumber Republicans in Abrams’ District 4, are vowing a serious 2010 challenge by former League of Women Voters prez Pamela Goodman.

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State Rep. Priscilla Taylor, D-West Palm Beach, is willing to give up her state House seat to represent Palm Beach County commission District 7 when Addie Greene steps down April 30.

Taylor is one of at least 11 applicants who have filled out paperwork with Gov. Charlie Crist’s appointments office. Former Boynton Beach Vice Mayor Henderson TIllman has applied, as have four people who applied for the District 4 appointment that Crist just filled with former Boca Raton mayor Steven Abrams.

Read about it here.

Former Boca Raton Mayor Steven Abrams will be Palm Beach County’s newest commissioner, replacing the resigned Mary McCarty, Gov. Charlie Crist announced today.

The announcement comes more than seven years after the 2001 anthrax attacks brought Abrams praise for his calm and leadership under fire, and amid an ongoing double crisis for the county – the perilous economy and the stain created by a three-year spate of corruption cases.

More here.

Step down from office early and let a Republican governor appoint a commissioner in Palm Beach County’s heavily Democratic commission District 7?

Addie Greene criticized the idea in 2000, but she’s doing it in 2009.

Read about it here.

Ending a week of speculation about her future, Palm Beach County Commissioner Addie Greene will announce today that she is resigning from the seat she has held for more than eight years.

Greene will hold a news conference at 11 a.m. outside the county’s headquarters in West Palm Beach. She confirmed Thursday that she is resigning but declined to comment further.

More here.

Remember this bunch?

Since this picture of the Palm Beach County commission was taken in 2003, three of seven commissioners have resigned. Commissioner Addie Greene (back row, second from right) confirmed today that she will become the fourth. Greene, who has said she’s concerned about the effects of job-related stress on her health, is scheduled to publicly discuss her plans Friday.

Her resignation will probably take effect at the end of April or early May, knowledgeable sources say.

The already departed commissioners are Mary McCarty (back row, left), Warren Newell (front row, left), and Tony Masilotti (front row, right). Unlike Greene, who appears to be leaving entirely on her own terms, the other three resigned after being targeted in federal corruption probes.

(Yes, there are eight people in this picture. In addition to the seven commissioners, that’s County Administrator Bob Weisman in the back row on the far right.)

If Palm Beach County Commissioner Addie Greene decides to resign for health reasons, knowledgeable sources say she wants assurances that Gov. Charlie Crist will choose state Rep. Priscilla Taylor, D-West Palm Beach, or another black Democrat to fill her seat in heavily Democratic, minority-dominated District 7.

The Palm Beach Post‘s editorial board this morning says Crist shouldn’t allow Greene to “anoint” her successor.