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.

It isn’t just Republicans who are trying to capitalize on the tea party movement and Scott Brown’s surprise Massachusetts Senate win.

As the April 13 special election approaches to replace former Democratic Rep. Robert Wexler in Palm Beach-Broward congressional District 19, Democrat Ted Deutch’s campaign has sent a mailer to voters in the heavily Democratic district warning that “Republicans & The Tea Party Want To Capture YOUR Congressional Seat!”

(more…)

In Florida, any Republican strategy for statewide victory includes The Villages, the massive retirement community and GOP stronghold near Ocala. So one couldn’t help but wonder about the 2012 presidential sweepstakes when Sarah Palin visited The Villages today.

As the GOP’s vice presidential nominee in 2008, Sarah Palin drew tens of thousands at the retirement community. As the author and promoter of Going Rogue, Palin drew a smaller crowd today but one filled with enthusiasm.

The Associated Press puts the crowd at about 700.

The Orlando Sentinel says “hundreds” and includes some photos.

The St. Petersburg Times says the crowd was “perhaps as high as 1,000.”

The Ocala Star-Banner weighs in with a crowd estimate in the 1,500-to-2,000 range.

Gov. Charlie Crist and then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin at the Republican Governor's Association meeting in Miami in 2008.

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.

Read about Craft’s position in this week’s Politics column, along with the latest on Irv Slosberg’s plans and the warning from not one but two local Dems about Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.

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.”

(more…)

• 

Republican Gov. Charlie Crist is getting it from both ends of the political spectrum.

First, Crist’s GOP primary opponent Marco Rubio blasted Crist in a press release, challenging Crist to an online debate if the governor is too busy to find time to debate. Rubio has asked Crist to participate in 10 debates before their primary election next year. But Rubio’s campaign noted that while the governor has not responded, he does have time to attend a fundraiser this weekend at the home of Real Housewives of New York television star Jill Zarin.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has unveiled the above web ad. The group says its hoping to show that Crist “put his own political ambitions ahead of his constituents. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and New Hampshire Attorney General Jill Ayotte are also featured in the spot.

“Republicans seem to be making a habit out of abandoning their posts when the times get tough,” DSCC Communications Director Eric Schultz said in a statement. “Charlie Crist created an enormous economic mess in Florida, and is now fleeing at the first chance he gets.”

Republicans respond:

“First it was President Bush, now it’s Governor Palin – when will the Democrats stop trying to turn Republican candidates into other people and finally focus on the critical issues facing America, like bipartisan health care reform and skyrocketing unemployment?” said National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson.

“Obviously the Democrats are nervous about Governor Crist’s candidacy if they’re spending this much time lobbing these pathetic attacks instead of figuring out how to turn our nation’s economy around. Perhaps they should redirect their energies toward accomplishing something positive for the American people.”

Asked today about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s comment that it would be “politics as usual” to finish out her term as a lame duck, Gov. Charlie Crist replied, “Is that what she said?”

“She did what’s right, obviously, for her family and, you know, her circumstances and I respect that,” Crist told reporters today. “Whatever is best for her is what she should do. And I’m sure that’s what she feels she’s doing.”

Does this help or hurt her in future campaigns?

“I have no idea. I honestly don’t,” Crist said

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.

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, above left, said tonight that the country will probably need another round of stimulus money before long.

“There is more that needs to be done,” Meek said in an interview.

Meek, the frontrunner for the Democratic U.S Senate nomination, was responding to a story in the Palm Beach Post on Sunday that showed Florida is receiving fewer stimulus dollars per-person than any state in the country. Meek said he was planning to review the numbers when he returns to Washington.

“I’m going to pay very close attention to that,” Meek said. “It’s definitely worth looking at and seeing if there are future stimulus packages that Florida gets its fair share.”

Meek said the economy was not turning around as fast as Democrats had hoped. He said plenty of jobs had been saved with stimulus money, but not enough new jobs have been created.

(more…)