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A judge ruled on Friday that attorneys for George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch leader charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, can have access to the dead teen's school records and social media accounts. Circuit Judge Debra Nelson, who is the new presiding judge in this highly publicized and emotional case, said that Zimmerman's attorneys can subpoena Trayvon Martin's schools for his discipline records but must keep anything they obtain private. "I think that you're entitled to those records," Nelson said during the hearing at the Seminole County Courthouse in Sanford, Fla. The judge also granted...

A consensus seems to be forming in the press about tonight’s crowd at the Romney-Ryan Rally in Daytona, Beach, Florida (no #s released yet): Huge crowd for Romney and Ryan in Daytona Beach tonight — (Washington Post) Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) October 20, 2012 Massive crowd for Romney and Ryan in Daytona Beach. twitter.com/shushwalshe/st… — (ABC) Shushannah Walshe (@shushwalshe) October 20, 2012 And traveling press secretary Rick Gorka is doing some of my style of campaigning with a little trash talk: Florida is Romney/Ryan country and it’s the next state Obama leaves. #romneyryan2012 instagr.am/p/Q_DH31sctr/ — Rick Gorka (@Rick_Gorka) October 20, 2012...

Mitt Romney has taken his biggest lead of the year in Florida and now outpaces President Obama by five points in the key swing state following Tuesday night's debate. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Florida Voters finds Romney with 51% support to Obama’s 46%. One percent (1%) prefers some other candidate, and two percent (2%) remain undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) Florida now moves from a Toss-Up to Leans Romney in the Rasmussen Reports Electoral College Projections.

Rep. Allen West (R-FL) is leading his Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy by nine points, according to a new FLDemocracy/WPTV/ TCPalm poll released Thursday. Among likely voters surveyed, 51 percent support West and 42 percent back Murphy. Eight percent are undecided. The same poll, conducted by Public Policy Polling (PPP), found Mitt Romney leading President Barack Obama in District 18 by a 50 percent to 45 percent margin. The battle for the 18 th congressional district, which includes Martin, St. Lucie and northern Palm Beach counties, is one of the closest watched races in the country. The race has been characterized...

SNIPPET: "New York City is the center of a public uproar as Internet blogger Pamela Gellar rises with an “anti-jihad” ad campaign." SNIPPET: "Gellar and her group are protesting the Jihad, which in definition is the religious duty of Muslims. According to the Dictionary of Islam, jihad is defined as “A religious war with those who are unbelievers in the mission of Muhammad . . . enjoined especially for the purpose of advancing Islam and repelling evil from Muslims.” The literal meaning of jihad, according to the British Broadcasting Network, “is struggle or effort, and it means much more than...

President Obama on Thursday declared 11 Florida counties a disaster area for damage sustained in August from Tropical Storm Isaac. The declaration makes federal funding available to state and local governments. In September, the Federal Emergency Management Agency refused Gov. Rick Scott's request for a presidential declaration of disaster for damages caused by Isaac. FEMA director Craig Fugate... basically argued that Florida could handle the costs on its own. ....It was unclear late Thursday why the decision about the declaration was reversed...

Barack Obama is sharply falling out of favor with two segments he has relied heavily upon — women and union voters, according to data from the second of three NewsmaxZogby Tracking Polls for Florida. Read More...

It appears that Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is in deeper trouble than we once thought- Wasserman Schultz’s Republican congressional opponent Karen Harrington has just doubled her up in the 7/26-9/30 fundraising period. According to the latest FEC reports that had to be filed by 10/15, Harrington raised $712,197.57, and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was only able to raise $369,033.65. These numbers come on the heels of a head-to-head poll released last week that had Harrington a mere 4.5% behind Wasserman Schultz. Wasserman Schultz faced off with Harrington in 2010 and beat her by 22% points. But this is 2012, and...

The first and only debate between Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson and Republican challenger Rep. Connie Mack IV Wednesday came across almost like the old school-yard taunt, "I know you are, but what am I?" Both candidates accused each other of lying about the other's records, both used the "there you go again" line made famous three decades ago by President Ronald Reagan and both strayed from the subject of questions to take shots at the other.

You need to read way, way, way down into this National Journal piece to find the key bit, but it’s worth it. Says Jay Cost, “I’ve never seen anybody bury a lede like Major Garrett here.” Let’s bring this treasure chest up to the surface: What also became clear after the dust began to settle from the rumble on Long Island was the electoral map has narrowed and Obama’s team, while conceding nothing publicly, is circling the wagons around Ohio, Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada. Plouffe said that Obama remains strong in all four states, but he would not discuss...

Another 19 people have been diagnosed with fungal meningitis linked to possibly tainted vials of a steroid medication, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases to 231. The CDC said there were two additional cases of infection in joints after a steroid injection but these were not confirmed as meningitis, bringing the total of infections nationwide to 233. The death toll from the unprecedented outbreak was unchanged at 15, the CDC said.

Could we see a repeat of the 2000 Florida recount mayhem in Ohio this year? Unfortunately, the stage is being set in such a way that a close election could be settled by lawyers and judges. Despite the efforts of Republicans to standardize the elections process, several issues remain unresolved, which could cause serious problems on Election Day and in the aftermath if the election is close enough for a recount.One major pending issue is that the question of weekend voting for both military and non-military voters remains unresolved less than a month before Election Day. Last week, the...

A new poll from Public Policy Polling shows Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney grabbing a one-point lead over President Barack Obama after trailing by four in the previous PPP poll. “The race in Florida’s about as close as it could be right now,” said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling. “Mitt Romney has the momentum after his strong debate performance last week, but Barack Obama’s still very much in it.” The poll, taken Oct. 12-14 of 791 likely voters, shows Romney ahead in Florida 49-48, after trailing 50-46 in late September...

Why is Obama still leading Mitt Romney in Ohio, but trailing in Florida? This puzzle might be explained by the early blitz of attack ads the Obama campaign laid down against Romney in Ohio back in May and June, which created a sort of “opinion deficit” that Romney has had to try to make up during the past four months. Yet Obama also hit Mitt early in Florida, and Romney has bounced back pretty strong there in the past two weeks. Is it Libya? And is it possible that the deadly Bungle in Benghazi has raised concerns about the administration’s...

Bear in mind that Chuck Todd is using the WaPo/ABC poll from this morning for part of his analysis, and you can see just how bad things are going for Team Obama. While I agree with Todd on the momentum shift, I’m not as sure it’s recent, but I do think the debate was indeed the big inflection point for the toplines of the polls. Even before that debate, Mitt Romney routinely led among independents in polling outside the margin of error — and in a cycle where Republican enthusiasm outstrips that of the Democrats, that’s a powerful indicator how...

In Florida, Connie Mack is in an uphill struggle to unseat Senator Bill Nelson. While he has been slowly inching up against Ol’ Bill (last Poll 47-42), most of his progress can be directly tied to Romney’s incredible first debate performance (and possibly the MSM coming to grips with the realization that they'd better start having more realistic poll samples in order to salvage, post November 6, what little reputation they’ll have left)

Should Florida be setting education achievement goals by race? Yes(8%) No(83%) Need more information(9%) This poll is not scientific and reflects the opinions of only those internet users who have chosen to participate.

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes reported Sunday that Arthur Allen, the founder, president, and CEO of ASG Software Solutions, recently emailed his employees asking them to vote for Mitt Romney for the sake of the company– and their jobs. The subject line for the September 30 email was, “Will the US Presidential election directly impact your future jobs at ASG? Please read below.” Just last week, founder and CEO of Westgate Resorts David Siegel made a similar move, telling employees he’d have “no choice” but to reduce the size of the company if Obama wins. Allen’s letter read, according to MSNBC: We...

Debbie Wasserman Schultz Poses for NOH8 Campaign on National Coming Out DayBy Chris Joseph Thu., Oct. 11 2012 at 2:49 PM Categories: The Gays Today is National Coming Out Day, and Democratic National Committee Chairwoman U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is all about it. **SNIP** She also added this on the group's website: "Marriage equality and equal opportunity are one of the most important issues of our time, and this campaign is an important step toward this goal." NOH8 is a silent-protest photo campaign that got started to oppose the bullcrappy California Proposition 8, passed in November of 2008, which...

-excerpt- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the outbreak has now sickened 197 people in a 13 states.