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A socially conservative PAC announced Thursday that it is endorsing Marco Rubio's 2010 Senate bid.

Washington (CNN) – The FRC Action PAC, the Family Research Council's political action committee, announced Thursday that it's endorsing former Florida state legislator Marco Rubio's 2010 Senate bid.

"Marco Rubio has been a true friend of the family and the culture of life as a state legislator in Florida," Tony Perkins, FRC Action president, said in a statement announcing the endorsement. "Rep. Rubio's many years of advocacy on behalf of pro-family causes will serve him well in the Senate. FRC Action PAC believes that Marco Rubio will be a true advocate for the issues that best uphold and strengthen families. We are proud to support his candidacy."

Rubio is set to face off against Florida Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida's GOP Senate primary. After conservative pressure forced moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava out of the race in New York's 23rd congressional district, many of the same activists - who have made similar complaints about Crist's candidacy - pledged to repeat the performance.
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Rubio wants this image to resonate with conservative voters.

(CNN) - Pictures can speak a thousand words.

At least that's what former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio hopes.

The conservative Republican battling Gov. Charlie Crist for the GOP Senate nomination in that state has unveiled a new Web site showing a single full-page image of Crist with President Obama at a rally for the president's stimulus package last February.

"Get the picture?" text under the image reads. "Donate now to stand up for conservative principles."

Crist was one of only a handful of Republican governors to extend some support to the president's $787 billion stimulus package - a move that rankled some conservatives in his home state and across the country.

Since the Senate primary race began last May, Rubio has become the favorite of conservative Republicans while national party leaders are openly supporting Crist. Recent polls suggest Crist holds a 15 point lead over Rubio, a margin that is down from more than 30 points last summer.

The picture of Crist and Obama could resonate with conservatives in a similar way an image of Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman embracing President Bush resonated with liberal Democrats in 2006. Lieberman lost his Democratic primary to a liberal challenger that year, though won the general election as an independent.

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Gov. Charlie Crist is running for Senate in Florida.

(CNN) – In February, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist embraced President Obama when he came to the Sunshine State to campaign for passage of his $787 billion stimulus bill.

This week, the president is back in Florida, speaking to an audience of military personnel in Jacksonville and making a stop in DeSoto County (along with raising money for Democrats in Miami). But Crist - now seeking the Republican Senate nomination in his state - is keeping his distance.

His reason? According to the Palm Beach Post, the governor apparently didn't know Obama was in his state.

Asked by a reporter Tuesday why he didn't join the president in Jacksonville yesterday, Crist responded: "First I've known of it." Crist also said, "I didn't know his itinerary. That's all."

Eric Issac, the governor's spokeswoman, told CNN that Crist knew the president was coming to Florida, but wasn't aware of his specific city-by-city itinerary. "The governor didn't say he didn't know the president was going to be in the state," she said.

The Palm Beach Post pointed out that Crist was eager to appear with Obama earlier this year, when the president's approval ratings in the state were north of 60 percent and before Crist was facing a Republican primary against conservative up-and-comer Marco Rubio. The governor canceled a scheduled Cabinet meeting to join the president on a stage on Fort Myers in February, but he declined to do the same thing on Tuesday as the president makes another Florida stop in DeSoto County.

Isaac said Crist simply has "a full schedule" today.

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Crist's primary lead over Rubio shrinking.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The battle for Florida Republican voters appears to be heating up.

A new Quinnipiac University poll suggests that Gov. Charlie Christ's wide lead over former state house speaker Marco Rubio in the GOP senate primary has been cut in half.

According to the survey, which was released Wednesday morning, Crist leads Rubio 50 percent to 35 percent, down from 55 percent to 26 percent in August.

Earlier this week Rubio won the endorsement of a major out-of-state conservative, Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who said in a statement that Rubio "will stand up for America's taxpayers, not with President Obama and dangerous big government spending."

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MIAMI, Florida (CNN) – Arrest warrants were issued Wednesday for 11 Florida voter registration workers who are suspected of submitting false information on hundreds of voter registration cards, according to court documents.

The FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement were serving the warrants in Miami. Six people are already in custody, officials said.

The workers were employed by ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, to canvass neighborhoods in Florida and assist people in registering to vote ahead of the 2008 election. The problems were concentrated in the region around Homestead, Florida, south of Miami, according to an affidavit filed in the case.

Authorities allege the workers submitted false information on the cards, which were to be submitted to the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections.

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Marco Rubio is running for Senate in Florida.

(CNN) – Former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, who is running as a more conservative alternative to Charlie Crist in the state's Republican Senate primary race, called the governor's appointment of George LeMieux to the U.S. Senate "disappointing."

"This is a disappointing pick for Florida," Rubio said in a statement e-mailed to CNN Friday. "George LeMieux is a talented political operative and the governor's best friend, but that doesn't make him the right choice to represent Florida in the Senate."

"Governor Crist had a wealth of consistent and principled conservative candidates to choose from, all of whom would have been a reliable check and balance on the excesses of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid agenda," he said.

Obama's approval dip in Florida largely mirrors his numbers nationwide.

(CNN) - President Obama's approval ratings are sinking in a key state that helped seal his White House victory, a new survey out Thursday suggests.

According to a new Quinnipiac University poll of Florida voters, the president's approval rating now stands at 47 percent in the Sunshine State, while 48 percent of voters there disapprove of the job he is doing.

Obama's approval in that key presidential swing state is now at a new low, and down more than 10 points from a similar survey conducted in June.

The poll also suggests the president's approval rating in Florida has largely been hurt by his aggressive push for health care reform: Only 38 percent of Florida voters believe his plan will improve the nation's healthcare system while 45 percent say it will hurt it.

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Rep. Allen Boyd said Monday that it would be an 'excellent idea' to start over on health care.

PERRY, Florida (CNN) – Acknowledging his amazement at the crowds gathered to debate health care at his town halls, Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Florida, faced three large gatherings on Monday with many questioners voicing skepticism about the proposals being debated in Washington.

"Never have I had this attendance ... that is a good thing," Boyd said as he started his third event of the day.

Boyd, in his seventh term, represents a conservative area in northern Florida. A fiscal conservative, he is part of the group of House Democrats known as the Blue Dogs.

At the first event of the day in Cross City, he held up a copy of the bill passed by the Energy and Commerce Committee and embraced by the congressional leadership.

"I cannot support this bill in the version it is in now," he said. "We can do better. We can make it better."

Related video: Blue Dog says no to bill

He emphasized to the skeptical crowds that he will work to reduce quickly-rising medical costs; that any bill must not add to the deficit; and that Blue Dogs like himself fought to delay consideration by the full House of Representatives to allow members to hear directly from constituents during the August recess.

When a questioner, Ray Evans, said he believed the President wants to do too much at once and asked whether Boyd would "be willing to scrap everything" and start over to do pursue reform more incrementally, the congressman responded: "I think that is an excellent idea ... we may end up there."

In a later interview with CNN, he said the idea had been been floated with the congressional leadership. He said that with the strong emotions and heated opposition he is seeing, the idea of doing health reform in a more piecemeal fashion is something he is strongly considering.

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Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said Friday he would not appoint himself to fill the remaining time left in Sen. Mel Martinez's.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said Friday he would not appoint himself to fill the remaining time left in Sen. Mel Martinez's, R-Florida, Senate term.

Crist, who is running for Martinez's seat, would not speculate on who he might appoint to fill the remaining term, but the governor also noted that "there is not a long list of candidates" for the position.

"This is a very serious thing and I recognize that," Crist told reporters at a briefing in Florida.

"There is not a short list," he said. "There is not a long list, but I am getting a lot of calls and recommendations and volunteers."

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Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Florida, will announce that he is resigning his seat.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Florida, will announce that he is resigning his seat, three GOP sources tell CNN.

The sources said that Martinez will officially announce his intention to step down on Friday. The Florida Republican, first elected in 2004, announced in December of last year that he would retire in 2010.

Florida law states that Gov. Charlie Crist may temporarily appoint someone to the vacant seat until the next general election. As of Friday morning, it was unclear what Crist would do. Crist announced in May he would not seek another term as governor, and instead would run for Martinez's seat.

Martinez is the only Hispanic Republican in the Senate. He joined eight other Republicans Thursday in voting to confirm Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the first Hispanic justice to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Huckabee endorsed Rubio in a video message Tuesday.

(CNN) – Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee officially endorsed Marco Rubio's Senate bid Tuesday, becoming the latest conservative to break with the national party over the GOP Senate primary race in Florida.

"I had a chance to get to know Marco over the years, spent a lot of time in Florida with him. And I've never seen a more energetic, articulate, principled conservative as Marco Rubio," Huckabee said in a video posted on his Web site.

"Marco loves liberty. He loves the idea that people can work hard and maybe get to keep something of what they worked hard for. That's the difference," he added.

Rubio faces Charlie Crist, the popular Florida governor, for the nomination. Crist immediately won the support of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee as well as a string of GOP leaders in Congress.

Conservative activists and bloggers have expressed disappointment the party was so quick to write off Rubio, a charismatic 38-year-old of Cuban descent whose quick rise in state politics and conservative credentials have won admiration from many in the party.

Huckabee's endorsement - first leaked accidentally more than three weeks ago - comes a week after South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint also threw his support behind Rubio, declaring he was "convinced" the former Florida House Speaker could beat Crist.

Recent polls show Crist with more than a 30-point lead in the race, though primary voters won't head to the polls for more than a year.

Sen. DeMint, on the right, is backing Marco Rubio, on the left, in the upcoming Republican primary for Florida's open Senate seat in 2010.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Sen. Jim DeMint said Tuesday he is "convinced" Marco Rubio can defeat Charlie Crist in the GOP's Florida Senate primary and win the state's open seat next November - even if his endorsement puts him at odds with Senate Republican leaders in Washington who are backing Crist.

Rubio flew up from Florida on Tuesday morning to greet DeMint outside the Capitol rotunda and officially receive the endorsement, his first from a sitting member of the Senate. The South Carolina senator - one of the chamber's most conservative members - described the former Florida House Speaker as one of the young leaders "who will help lead our party out of the wilderness and into the arms of a waiting American public."

Rubio called DeMint a "hero" to American taxpayers and said the endorsement has given his underdog campaign a "great boost."

When Crist announced he would seek the Senate seat in May, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and other prominent party figures in Washington quickly endorsed the Florida governor's bid, much to the disappointment of conservative activists and bloggers who favor Rubio.

DeMint said he had spoken with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and NRSC chairman John Cornyn about his decision to back Rubio, and that they are "fine" with the move. He said he hopes his announcement will give other legislators breathing room to go with their consciences and back Rubio.

"I don't think there's been any effort by the leadership to intimate anyone one way or another, I certainly haven't felt, so I think you'll see some senators, and I know some House members, jumping in behind Marco," he said.

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Related: Falling into the health care system's cracks in Orlando

(CNN) - Florida Gov. Charlie Crist officially announced his 2010 Senate run. CNN National Political Correspondent Jessica Yellin reports.

Related: GOP gets 'big fish' in 2010 Senate race

(CNN) - National Political Correspondent Jessica Yellin reports on Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's anticipated bid for the U.S. Senate.

Related: Florida governor to run for Senate, sources say

(CNN) - Former Florida Republican House Speaker Marco Rubio announced Tuesday he will run for Senate in 2010.

In a video released on his campaign website Tuesday, the attorney from Miami declared his candidacy, maintaing his run for Mel Martinez's vacant Senate seat will not "be a campaign against anyone, nor will it be a campaign against anything."

"This is a campaign for the kind of ideas that will change our country for the better," Rubio says citing tax reform and a balanced budget amendment. "Let's be frank, neither Republicans nor Democrats have been able to control runaway government spending."

Florida Republican Gov. Charlie Crist is considering a bid, and Rep. Kendrick Meek and state Sen. Dan Gelber, both Democrats from the Miami-Dade area, have announced their candidacy. Rubio acknowledges the potential competition in his video.

"I know that there are people who are more famous than I who may enter this race and I know that the President of the United States himself will travel to Florida to campaign and raise money against me," the Florida lawyer says. "But nothing in life worth doing is easy and I believe that this is worth doing."

Florida Sen. Mel Martinez announced in December he will not seek reelection in 2010.

Photo credit: Getty Images

(CNN) – It must be 'great to be a Florida Gator.'

The University of Florida football team, winner of the 2009 BCS National Championship, met with President Obama Thursday at the White House. Led by coach Urban Meyer, the boys from old Florida posed for photos with the president after presenting him with a personalized "Obama 1" jersey and "Barack Obama" national championship football.

The president shook hands with Heisman trophy winner Tim Tebow as cameras flashed telling the group that the quarterback's leadership is what "you want to see from all our young people – taking responsibility, challenging yourself and others, and rising to the moment."

Last week, Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson announced the team's upcoming White House visit during halftime at the Gators' traditional "Orange and Blue" game.

By tradition, the winner of the national championship is eligible for a visit to the executive mansion. The Florida football team traveled to Washington most recently in 2006 and 1996 after winning the national title.

If Gov. Crist does decide to give up his current job and run for the Senate, the survey indicates he's far ahead of any other possible Republican primary contender.

(CNN) – Floridians message to their governor appears to be "we love you just the way you are," according to a new poll of Sunshine State voters.

Forty-two percent of people questioned in a Quinnipiac University survey released Thursday they they'd prefer that Florida Gov. Charlie Crist seek re-election next year rather than run for the U.S. Senate. That's 16 points higher than the 26 percent who would like Crist to forgo a re-election bid and run for the Senate seat opening up by the retirement of incumbent senator and fellow Republican Mel Martinez. That sentiment is consistent among Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.

Sixty four percent of Florida voters questioned in the poll have a favorable opinion of Crist and 53 percent approve of the way the governor is handling the economy.

If Crist does decide to give up his current job and run for the Senate, the survey indicates he's far ahead of any other possible Republican primary contender.

A Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday suggests that 58 percent of voters believe the governor should be re-elected if he chooses to run for a second term.

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It looks like Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's backing of President Obama stimulus package isn't hurting his approval ratings among Republican voters.

(CNN) – It looks like Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's backing of President Obama stimulus package isn't hurting his approval ratings among Republican voters.

A Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday finds the Republican governor received an impressive 68 percent approval rating from members of his own party - the same numbers he drew in November, before he appeared with the president at an event plugging the stimulus plan. He draws roughly the same positive ratings from Democrats and Independents: 66 percent of Democrats and 68 percent of Independents approve of the job Crist is doing during his time in office.

Crist's 25 percent disapproval rating among Republican voters is sightly higher than the 20 percent of Democrats who give him negative marks.

"There may be some GOP activists who think Gov. Charlie Crist isn't conservative enough, but they aren't striking a chord around the state," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "Across America, an awful lot of governors are seeing their approval ratings dip as the recession requires higher taxes and cuts in government programs, but Teflon Charlie keeps chugging along with numbers that most of his fellow governors would die for."

Fifty-eight percent of voters, a slightly lower number, believe the governor should be re-elected if he chooses to run for a second term.

The Quinnipiac University telephone poll of 1,332 Florida voters was conducted April 6-13, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.