In a social network experience marked by little socializing but plenty of network snafus, Gov. Rick Scott held his first Facebook townhall Tuesday night answering a few questions from the hundreds pelted at him.

Most of the Internet crowd was rough. The governor was quizzed about his recommended cuts to schools, merit pay for teachers, reducing pensions, and his reluctance to engage the conventional media.

One  Facebook friend from Tampa, Tony Cona, wrote the governor saying, “I’m taking bets right now that in the end you will prove to be the worse thing that ever happened to the state of Florida.”

As he did with a Twitter town hall a few weeks ago, Scott sidestepped his toughest critics. But he did try to defend some of his policies.

While the governor has gotten heat for blocking implementation of a prescription drug database to combat pill mills flourishing in South Florida, Scott on Facebook voiced sympathy.

“This is a significant (problem) for the State. A friend of mine just lost his daughter. We need to focus on the distribution of “narcotics and close down pill mills that are improperly distributing prescriptions,” Scott wrote.

The governor also pushed back in support of his and the Legislature’s support for tying teacher pay to student performance.

“My experience with teachers is they would like to be measured, the measurement need to be fair, and the most effective teachers need to be rewarded with both recognition and better pay,” Scott responded. (more…)

It’s 61 degrees and sunny in downtown Tampa as the crowd is filling Bob Martinez Sports Center at the picturesque University of Tampa, where President Obama and Vice President Biden are scheduled to hold a town hall meeting this morning.

Here’s what we’re watching for today:

1.) Gov. Charlie Crist: The Republican has caught heat for supporting Obama’s stimulus package. And he’s fallen in the polls largely due to his primary opponent repeatedly reminding the conservative faithful of this picture of the two men hugging at an event in Fort Myers last year. Crist says he’s going to meet Obama when Air Force One lands at 11:50 a.m. to give him a stern talking about the need to follow though on his promise of bipartisanship. How will the President of the United States react to a lecture from a one-term Republican governor?

2.) TRAIN!!: It’s a long shot, but I kind of hope Obama quotes Wil from “Stand By Me” in formally awarding the state’s $1.25 billion stimulus grant to start building a high-speed rail line from Tampa to Orlando. Florida is one of nine areas around the country to receive a total of $8 billion in high-speed rail grants.

3.) Q&A: It’s a nice peg for Obama to announce the high-speed rail grant, but this trip was planned to drive home the themes of his first State of the Union speech in a politically crucial city. The reactions to the speech from the political establishment fell along partisan lines. And while the town hall crowd should be pretty friendly, Obama’s team hasn’t screened questions before in Florida. Voters are as angry in Florida as they anywhere. Don’t be surprised if a barb or two thrown.

4.) I’m at the event, but don’t get a question. In fact, the questions are kind of expensive (free tickets were going for hundreds of dollars on Craigslist). But I could, I’d ask the president for specifics on where he thinks Congress can advance the health care bill. Last night, he asked lawmakers to take a second look at the proposal. Should lawmakers break the bill into pieces and vote on individual proposals?

What would you ask?

You can add another political bigwig to Thursday’s health care forum at the South County Civic Center near Delray Beach, which is already attracting lots of attention from both supporters and opponents of Democratic health-care proposals: U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, a Democrat from Miramar, says he’s going to join the already-announced Robert Wexler.

According to an e-mail from Hastings chief of staff Lale M. Mamaux:

“I just wanted to give you the heads up that Congressman Hastings will be participating in the town hall meeting tomorrow hosted by the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans. During the August recess he has met with physicians, home health care representatives, health underwriters, hospital officials, nurses, patients, and representatives from a community health center to discuss health care reform.”

Once again, this is an event put on by the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, which said it was requiring tickets and giving preference to members. Feel free to contact them for more information.