Free Republic

Jeb Bush began 2015 atop Republican presidential polls and visits West Palm Beach at year’s end in single digits - but his supporters insist there's still time for Bush to rebound. The former Florida governor will speak at Monday's Forum Club of the Palm Beaches lunch at the Palm Beach County Convention Center - within three miles of Republican front runner Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. Bush is spending the day in his home state, with scheduled appearances in Hialeah and Ocala as well, but Bush backers are increasingly pinning their comeback hopes on New Hampshire. Florida Chief...

Just as he looked like a front-runner to replace Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida CFO Jeff Atwater announced Saturday he would not run for the seat. “Over the past weeks I have received a tremendous amount of encouragement to consider a run for the United States Senate in 2016,” Atwater said in a written statement. “While I have certainly taken these words of support under consideration, I will not be a candidate in 2016. I remain committed to only one endeavor and that is to be the best CFO I can be for the people of Florida.”

If Marco Rubio fulfills expectations and announces Monday that he is running for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination and not re-election to the Senate, Florida's chief financial officer and a Democratic congressman will become the leading candidates to replace him. Republican CFO Jeff Atwater would be the immediate favorite to replace Rubio after dominant wins in two statewide campaigns. Democratic U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy is not nearly as well-known. But he is seen as a moderate who can win crossover votes after defeating incumbent Republican Rep. Allen West in 2012 despite West's massive fundraising and national tea party support. The...

PPP's final polls for Governor in Florida, Michigan, and Illinois find incredibly tight contests in all three states. Florida is the closest. Rick Scott and Charlie Crist both have 44%, with Libertarian Adrian Wyllie polling at 6%. PPP usually has a policy of not releasing poll results to the decimal, but when we find a tie on our final poll of the cycle somewhere we make an exception. Crist is at 44.0% to 43.8% for Scott- in terms of raw respondents to the poll that's 526 for Crist and 524 for Scott. Wyllie may be playing a spoiler role for...

TALLAHASSEE — Jim Greer found a way to get even with Charlie Crist, but the question is how many people will believe it — or pay $32.95 to read about it. The disgraced and imprisoned former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida is the subject of a new book by St. Petersburg author Peter Golenbock. The Chairman: The Rise and Betrayal of Jim Greer is largely a 400-page rant by Greer, who went to prison more than a year ago after pleading guilty to stealing party money. Now at a halfway house in Orlando, he's due to be released...

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater has decided not to enter the Republican primary for U.S. Senate after briefly considering a late bid. “As much as Carole and I are humbled by your calls, notes and messages to enter the US Senate race and carry our banner into the fight we believe we have a responsibility to finish the job Floridians elected us to do,” Atwater said in a weekend Facebook post. He’s less than 16 months into his four-year term as Florida CFO. Atwater, a North Palm Beach resident, said last week he was mulling a Senate bid after...