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TALLAHASSEE — Republican Bill McCollum's relentless criticism of a federal health-care reform bill and his willingness to sue to block it appear to be paying dividends with Florida voters. The attorney general and leading GOP candidate for governor has moved out to a double-digit advantage over Democrat Alex Sink since last June, garnering an edge of 49 percentage points to 34 percentage points in the latest Mason-Dixon poll released Monday

TALLAHASSEE – Republican Bill McCollum’s trigger-happiness to sue over the federal health care overhaul appear to be paying dividends with Florida voters. The attorney general and leading GOP candidate has swelled his advantage to double-digits over Democrat Alex Sink since early summer, garnering a 49-percent to 34-percent edge in the latest Mason-Dixon poll released Monday. Last June, McCollum, a 20-year congressman and three-time statewide candidate with far higher name-recognition than the relatively novice Sink, nonetheless held just a 6 percentage-point lead, fanning Democratic exuberance that the party had its best shot at re-taking the Governor’s Mansion in decades. Since then,...

Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum said yesterday that his lawsuit to block Congressional health reform has been handled in house. But now it looks like he has hired an old friend to help out, David Rivkin. A former Reagan-era Department of Justice lawyer, Rivkin's not just a co-author of an early anti-health reform article (more here). He's a lawyer at the firm of Baker & Hostetler, which hired McCollum for the few years in between his politician jobs as Congressman and state Attorney General. McCollum and Rivkin appeared to have lobbied together before Congress, the Federal Communications Commission, and the...

"When a state official can deploy not only the vast resources of his office, but hire outside counsel at taxpayer expense to try and block millions of Floridians from finally getting access to health care, it's time to stop and demand some accountability," Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, said at a press conference this afternoon.

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I just saw Fla. AG Bill McCollum on Greta tonight. I taped it and then transcribed it roughly: Greta: "If the court were to agree that the mandate were unconstitutional, would it knock out the entire health care bill or just that one particular provision being tossed out?" McCollum: "WELL, WE THINK THAT IS THE CORE OF THE WHOLE BILL AND I BELIEVE THAT IT WOULD KNOCK OUT THE WHOLE BILL, BUT THE REALITY IS, IT IS A HOUSE OF CARDS, BECAUSE, IT IS ALL PREDICATED ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT YOU REQUIRE PEOPLE TO BE INSURED; AND IF YOU CAN'T...

Hopefully.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced on March 22, 2010, the State will be joining other states in challenging the health-care reform legislation that passed in the U.S. House last night 219-212. "The federal health care legislation passed tonight violates the United States Constitution and unconstitutionally infringes upon Texans' individual liberties," said Abbott. "To protect all Texans' constitutional rights, preserve the constitutional framework intended by our nation's founders, and defend our state from further infringement by the federal government, the State of Texas and other states will legally challenge the federal health care legislation," Abbott announced. Virginia's Attorney General Ken...

After the U.S. House's historic vote Sunday night passing the health care reform bill, South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster issued the following statement: "The health care legislation Congress passed tonight is an assault against the Constitution of the United States. It contains various provisions and federal mandates that are clearly unconstitutional and must not be allowed to stand. A legal challenge by the States appears to be the only hope of protecting the American people from this unprecedented attack on our system of government. The key question involved is whether personal freedom, state sovereignty and constitutional law will survive...

ORLANDO, FL -- Moments after Congress voted to approve President Obama's health care legislation, Florida's Attorney General announced he will file a lawsuit to declare the bill unconstitutional. Bill McCollum will join Attorneys General from South Carolina, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, Pennsylvania, Washington, North Dakota and South Dakota to file a lawsuit against the federal government. "The health care reform legislation passed by the U. S. House of Representatives this evening clearly violates the U.S. Constitution and infringes on each state's sovereignty," McCollum said in a statement distributed late Sunday night. "If the President signs this bill into law, we will...

Alert: Bill McCollum to Discuss Health Care Reform Vote on FOX News Sunday, March 21st, 2010 ALERT: BILL MCCOLLUM TO DISCUSS HEALTH CARE REFORM VOTE ON FOX NEWS Tallahassee, FL – Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum will discuss the constitutionality of the health care reform legislation the U.S. House of Representatives is voting on today, and his plans to legally challenge it if the bill becomes law, on the FOX News Channel. Information on both interviews scheduled for today is below. Bill McCollum on FOX NEWS’ Your World with Neil Cavuto 4:20 p.m. Sunday, March 21, 2010 Bill McCollum on...

They are the longest of long shots, the darkest of dark horses. Since 1946, Republicans have lost 31 straight elections for Minnesota's 4th District congressional seat, and Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum has won her last four elections by lopsided margins. Nonetheless, Republicans are fired up about their chances of unseating her this year. Four candidates are competing for the party's endorsement:

Florida Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum will join South Carolina Attorney General Henry Mcmaster to file a lawsuit against part of the health care reform bill that may become law if passed. Specifically, McCollum is against the provision in the health care reform bill that mandates residents to purchase health care insurance. According to Attorney General McMollum, "The U.S. Constitution grants no authority to Congress to compel citizens to purchase health insurance when those citizens choose not to enter the health care market." McCollum continued saying "Congress lacks Commerce Clause authority to enact the individual mandate." McCollum also...

Keith Ellison, widely hailed as America's first Muslim congressman, could more accurately be described as CAIR and Hamas' man in Congress. Congressman Ellison has been a regular presence at CAIR fundraisers and at pro-Hamas rallies in the United States. As a former member of Farrakhan's Nation of Islam , Ellison has enough anti-semitic and Islamist credentials to satisfy anyone, and had expressed openly anti-semitic beliefs in the past. Since Ellison got his start with CAIR , his attempt to provide support for Hamas is completely unsurprising. Both Hamas and CAIR are projects of the Muslim Brotherhood, which also helped...

Florida’s attorney general questioned the constitutionality of the federal health care bill on Tuesday, calling on states to study whether to file suit to kill a provision requiring that individuals buy health insurance or pay a fine. The attorney general, William McCollum, a Republican who is running for governor in 2010, said that the so-called mandate was “an affront to our country’s principles.” He added that the fine might be illegal because, in his view, it is disconnected from any commercial act. “It’s a tax on living,” Mr. McCollum said in a telephone conference call with reporters. “It’s a tax...

After months of thinking it over, Sen. Paula Dockery is poised to kick-off her candidacy for governor, party insiders told the News Service of Florida on Friday. The Lakeland Republican is expected to open a campaign account early next week – as a prelude to a formal campaign announcement the following Tuesday in her hometown. It would set the stage for a potentially combative Republican primary contest with Attorney General Bill McCollum, who had seemed on an unimpeded path to the nomination. Democrat Alex Sink, the state’s chief financial officer, doesn’t appear likely to face a serious primary challenge. For...

TALLAHASSEE - With a reputation as a conservative crusader during 20 years of voting in Congress for pro-life, gun rights and business issues, Bill McCollum is an unlikely candidate to follow the moderate political path set by the man he hopes to replace as governor, Charlie Crist.But McCollum has dropped the code words of bygone social battles as he prepares his campaign. Instead, the early front-runner for the GOP nomination is echoing Crist’s political tenor and wooing the governor’s base of moderate Republicans and Democrats.As happened with Crist, McCollum’s move to the middle has alienated some on the Republican right,...

Everyone expected that Charles Bronson, commissioner of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, would opt out of the race for governor. The only suspense was whether Bronson would fire a parting shot at Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer. And... yep! Bronson had been grousing as recently as Monday about the party's seeming intention to rig the primaries for their favorite candidates. Still, Bronson has political reasons for keeping the good graces of the party leaders, just as they would try to avoid bad publicity in advance of Bronson's scheduled announcement Friday. Remember that Bronson's interest in the...

Posted: 9:23 pm EDT May 14, 2009 TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Attorney General Bill McCollum will announce Monday that he's running for governor. A political source close to McCollum says the announcement will be made in Orlando. The source didn't want to be named because the announcement hasn't been made yet.

TALLAHASSEE -- Former House Speaker Marco Rubio, of West Miami, is certain to run for the U.S. Senate seat in 2010, following Jeb Bush's decision not to become a candidate. In an interview, Rubio, Florida's first Cuban-American House speaker from 2006-2008, said he'd consider a run "about as seriously as you can consider anything." He'll have a formal announcement in a few weeks, he said, but he's already set up a Web site as a prelude to his campaign and sent out a video to top Republican donors around the state. "Look, U.S. Senate seats are very competitive and very...