Florida Sen. Paula Dockery posted pictures on Facebook of the wedding party on their flight to the islands and later posted a picture of Bondi serving punch to friends. Bondi’s wedding to ophthalmologist Greg Henderson was a small ceremony with close friends and family, and her office has released no photos to the media or the public.

Gov. Scott and his wife attended the wedding.

The group sent a letter to Secretary of State Ken Detzner threatening a lawsuit if Florida doesn’t stop the planned purge. The coalition said federal law bans the state from removing voters from the rolls less than 90 days before a federal election.

Florida will hold its primary election on August 14.

The move comes after state officials asked local election supervisors to check the status of more than 2,600 people and remove them from the rolls if they were not U.S. citizens. The state claims the move was legal and that it’s obligated to remove ineligible voters.

Florida Congressman Ted Deutch also told the website Think Progress Wednesday that he was also set to send a letter to Governor Scott asking for the voter roll purges to be stopped.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

According to the NBC/WSJ poll, President Obama led among registered voters by a 45 to 40 percent margin and among registered voters leaning towards a candidate by a 48-44 percent margin. Still, there’s 14 percent undecided that will swing the election behind one candidate or the other.

Romney hasn’t named his vice-presidential candidate yet, but the only potential VP choice that could help would be Jeb Bush, according to the poll. With Bush on the ticket, Obama led by just two points, inside the margin of error. If Marco Rubio is the VP selection, Obama leads by four points.

Overall, the NBC/WSJ poll found that 48 percent of Florida’s registered voters approved of Obama’s job performance, while 45 percent disapproved.

The poll also found good news for Democratic Senator Bill Nelson. According to the poll, Senator Nelson leads his Republican challenger, Representative Connie Mack IV, by five points. But, 19 percent were undecided, meaning the race is very much in doubt for either candidate.

One key finding of the poll that could explain Obama’s lead was that by a 56-37 percent margin, Floridians believed the current economic conditions were mostly inherited by the President and not a result of his own policies.

If Romney and Republicans can get Americans to forget where the economy was in Obama’s first two months in office, then they will likely win the economic argument. But so far, that message isn’t resonating with Floridians, according to the poll.

According to the latest Quinnipiac University poll, Representative Mack leads former Senator George LeMieux and Mike McCallister by 33 and 32 points respectively. Mack received 40 percent of the support among registered Republicans to LeMieux’s 7 percent and McCallister’s 8 percent.

Still, there’s plenty of room for each candidate to move up and down ahead of August’s primary. Forty-one percent of registered Republicans said they were not sure which candidate they were going to support.

But Senator Nelson can’t get comfortable either. The poll found Nelson is currently trailing Mack by a 42-41 percent margin, which was inside the margin of error for the poll, making it a statistical dead heat.

Nelson trailed among male voters by eight percent and among white voters by 13 percent to Mack. Nelson also trailed Mack among Hispanic voters by an eight percent margin. But, a plurality of voters said they approved of Nelson’s handling of job as Senator.

Half of all Republican voters said they haven’t heard enough about Mack to have an opinion of him.

The same poll found that Governor Rick Scott had negative numbers among voters, but his numbers have improved since January. Forty-six percent disapprove of Scott’s job performance while 41 percent approve.

According to the poll, Hispanic voters approve of the job President Obama is doing in handling the economy by a 54-38 percent margin. The numbers are similar on foreign policy where 53 percent give Obama thumbs up on his handling of foreign affairs.

When pollsters asked Hispanic voters about whether they had positive or negative views of political parties and leaders, Democrats again came out ahead. Fifty-eight percent said they had either a somewhat positive or very positive view of President Obama. Fifty-one percent had a similar view of the Democratic Party.

On the flip side, 40 percent said they had a somewhat negative or very negative view of the Republican Party and another 35 percent said they had a similar view of Romney.

Nearly six in 10 Hispanic voters said they would prefer a Democratically-controlled Congress, while just 30 percent want Republicans to control the next Congress. Plus, if the election were held today, 61 percent of Hispanic voters said they’d vote for Obama compared to 27 percent who would vote for Mitt Romney.

Still, only 50 percent of those surveyed voted in the 2008 election. That means if Democrats want to win, they will have to put together a massive get out the vote campaign among Hispanic voters. If they successfully do that, it could swing many elections in favor of the Democratic Party.

“The purpose of what I’m doing is to give the voters of this community an opportunity to make a choice,” Braman told CBS4’s Jim DeFede Wednesday. “They haven’t had that opportunity simply because the system’s been rigged.”

Braman says incumbents already have an unfair advantage as lobbyists and special interests finance their campaigns. Challengers rarely can raise the money needed to get elected

“What I’m doing still will not equal the combined resources of these four incumbents,” Braman said.

Braman slate includes Miami Garden Mayor Shirley Gibson over Commissioner Barbara Jordan; Alison Austin against Commissioner Audrey Edmonson, Alice Pena over Commissioner Dennis Moss and state Representative Luis Garcia against Commissioner Bruno Barreiro.

“If [voters] decide to vote for the incumbent commissioners, so be it,” Braman said. “If they decide they want real change” they’ll vote for someone new.

Braman said none of the people he is supporting will be beholden to him.

“We haven’t asked them to sign any pledge or anything like that,” Braman said. “But all of them are committed to meaningful charter reform in the community; they are all committed to doing away with the slush funds each of the commissioners have. They are interested in giving reform a chance.”

The incumbent commissioners are expected to blast Braman throughout the election and try to make it seem that he is bullying voters. Braman said he is prepared for the attacks and expects to become an issue in the campaign.

“Barbara Jordan is not going to debate the issues with Mayor Gibson,” Braman said. “And Audrey Edmonson is not going to debate the issues. And Dennis Moss and Bruno Barreiro are not going to debate the issues. They are going to focus attention on me. If they focus attention on me, that’s fine. I’m proud of my record in this community and what I’ve done.”

Braman has formed two political action committees — Change Miami-Dade Now and Vote For A New Miami-Dade. He said he expects to spend between $500,000 and $600,000 to help his defeat the four incumbents.

The latest Q-Poll found Republican Mitt Romney currently holds a six point lead over President Obama in the Sunshine State, 47-41 percent. Additionally, Romney has been trending up since March when Obama led the race by a 49-42 percent margin.

Deeper in the numbers, a majority said President Obama doesn’t deserve a second term and 52 percent gave him a thumbs-down on his job approval.

Romney leads among independents by eight points, which makes up the bulk of his lead. In the Q-Poll, Romney has also pulled relatively even with Obama in the key Hispanic demographic and dominates Obama among white voters.

Obama leads among those with a college degree and among all people making less than $50,000 a year. He also leads among young voters, but trails by 12 points among those who are over 55 years old.

Quinnipiac also analyzed how much impact Senator Marco Rubio would have if he was to be added to the ticket. Pollsters found it would give Romney virtually no help, possibly adding two percent to his overall margin.

When it came to the issue of gay marriage, a plurality of voters supported allowing gay Floridians to marry. Thirty-six percent supported gay marriage, while 34 percent said civil unions should be allowed, and 23 percent said there should be no recognition at all.

According to the latest Quinnipiac University polling, a plurality of Floridians now believe that same-sex couples should be allowed to legally marry.

The Q-poll found 36 percent of Floridians supported allowing same-sex couples to marry while 34 percent supported the concept of civil unions, but not marriage.

The poll found that just 23 percent supported giving same-sex couples no legal recognition of a marriage or a civil union.

The poll’s findings were the first time since the question was first asked in August 2007 that the largest group supported allowing same-sex couples to marry.

Quinnipiac found support for allowing same-sex couples to marry was higher in women, Democrats, African-Americans, and Hispanic voters. White voters were split evenly on either allowing same-sex couples to marry or form civil unions.

Using a new data base, the Florida Department of State found nearly 52,000 dead people still listed as active voters. So far, Broward has pulled out 4,482 names of dead voters from the rolls; Miami-Dade has dropped 4,860 dead voters from the rolls, according to Chris Cate, the Communications director at the Florida Department of State.

“Obviously it’s absurd, but how do you police it, I don’t know,” wondered voter Augi Moran.

“It’s not right but I don’t know what the government is doing about it,” said voter Seymour Braun.

The chair of Broward’s Republican party, Richard DeNapoli, fears it’s only the tip of the iceberg.

DeNapoli said his office cross referenced social security information with the Broward Elections office list and found hundreds of dead voter names still on the rolls. He said in 2011 there were 9900 deaths in Broward County. Also the Broward GOP checked 2100 of those names and determined 481 deceased voters were on the rolls.

Broward County Supervisor of Elections, Dr. Brenda Snipes is looking into the non-citizen voters and the Broward GOP claims on dead voters. She said verification is a process.

Snipes also noted that reconciling death and voter registration in South Florida is challenging because of our transient population.  In other words someone may live in South Florida but will die in another state or even another country.

“We rely on the state to send information and will accept information from families if there is a death certificate,”said Snipes. “We are up to date on the information and process it as soon as we have it,” Snipes insists.

Additionally, the Broward elections office said voters who miss two federal elections are reclassified as inactive, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. CBSMiami checked with the Broward elections office and was told that if you are moved to the inactive list, you have to re-register to vote.

Broward’s GOP is hoping all the rolls are up to date in time for the presidential election in November.

Given the new restraints on voter registration efforts, that has the possibility of hampering some voter turnout in the coming presidential election.

Historically, if turnout for the presidential election is heavy, it favors Democrats and conversely, if turnout is light, it favors Republicans.

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the 17-country eurozone risks falling into a “severe recession” if quick action isn’t taken to slow down the rapidly deteriorating European economy.

The OECD said the eurozone economy could contract by as much as 2 percent this year, which had been pegged as the worst-case scenario last November. The report also said Europe would fall behind other countries, including the United States which economists predict will expand by 2.4 this year and 2.6 percent next year.

This presents problems for South Florida tourism, which has reached out to European tourists while the euro has been performing well against the dollar. If the entire Eurozone continues to deteriorate, South Florida will have to look elsewhere, likely to South America, to find new areas to target for tourists.

Politically, the eurozone’s decline puts Democrats and Republicans into a precarious position on the issue of budget deficits. Republicans, led by the tea party, have waged war on any deficit spending and have instead championed austerity-like cuts to the U.S. government.

Some Democrats have also bought into the idea of reducing the size of government in the face of recession, which historically goes in the face of decades of economic theory.

But, as the eurozone continues to decline as it enacts austerity measures across the region, the question becomes, is it the best policy to call for more cuts during a recession when economic theory dictates more government spending during a recession and less during growth periods?

It’s a question that goes to the very heart of the presidential campaign between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, growth or cuts.

Government has shrunk under President Obama by more than 500,000 workers at the federal level. But Republicans, and some Democrats, want further cuts, mainly targeting discretionary spending and will not consider any additional revenues.

The eurozone decline could go a long way towards deciding the presidential election in the United States. Which side the voters in the U.S. choose to believe, will ultimately determine not only part of the fate of the eurozone; but also the fate of the U.S. economy as well.

Gallup focused on the topics of unemployment, health care, and the budget deficit in its most recent survey.

According to Gallup, President Obama is preferred by a 51-44 percent margin over Romney on the issue of health care. On the other hand, Romney beat Obama 54-39 percent on the issue of the budget deficit, according to Gallup’s numbers.

On the final issue of unemployment, the race was a dead heat. Forty-eight percent of voters preferred President Obama’s approach to unemployment, while 47 percent preferred Romney’s approach. The numbers were well within the margin of error, meaning it was a statistical tie.

The takeaway for the Obama administration will be that it has to try to sell the public on his economic record while simultaneously chipping away at Romney’s business record.

For Team Romney, they have to continue their push against health care without overselling repeal of some of the more popular programs such as making it easier for those with pre-existing conditions to get health insurance and being allowed to keep kids on their parents’ policies longer.

It’s a delicate balancing act that both candidates will seek to play out over the next several months as the general election draws near.

According to the study, Congress now speaks at nearly a full grade lower than it did in 2005. Currently, Congress speaks at about a 10.6 grade level compared to 2005 when Congress spoke at a grade level of 11.5.

The study found that since 2005, Congressional speech among Republicans has dropped more so than for Democrats. Further, the study found that as Republicans became more conservative, the grade level of speech dropped almost three full grade levels.

A similar correlation was found for Democrats who went further to the left of the political center.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio was graded at a ninth grade level of speech, while fellow Florida Senator Bill Nelson’s speech was graded out at between an 11th and 12th grade level.

To see the full list of Congressional scores, click here.

The Sunlight Foundation couldn’t pinpoint the exact cause of the decline, but noted that junior members spoke at a lower grade level than more senior members.

“Among the newest members (those with 1-3 years in their seat), there is a drop off in speech level as we move from the center out to either extreme of the political spectrum, though the pattern is more pronounced on the far right,” the study said in its analysis.

Republican Congressman John Mulvaney of South Carolina was labeled as having the worst speech in Congress, speaking at a grade level of 7.95. The lowest ranking Democrat was John Garamendi out of California, who spoke at a grade level of roughly 8.92.

For a comparison, the U.S. Constitution is at a level of 17.8; the Federalist Papers are at 17.1; Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” was at level 9.4; and the New York and Los Angeles Times were rated at a level of 14.

The study used the Congressional Record and analyzed it with the Flesch-Kinkaid readability tests.

Sebastian Senakiewicz, 24, and Mark Neiweem, 22, are the latest suspects. They join three other men charged Saturday.

Brent Betterly, 24, of Oakland Park, Brian Church, 20, of Fort Lauderdale, and Jared Chase, 24, of Keene, NH allegedly planned to use Molotov cocktails to attack President Barack Obama’s campaign headquarters, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home and several police stations.

But those who know the men say they were peaceful protesters, not violent terrorists.

“It’s very upsetting to know somebody you love is being charged with a heinous crime like this and they’re so innocent,” a family friend of Brent Betterly told CBS 4 News.

Betterly, along with Church and Chase were were active in the local Occupy Movement. Betterly often posted on the Occupy Fort Lauderdale Facebook Page. Chase was arrested at an Occupy Miami rally earlier this year.

Now they’re accused of plotting to commit a string of terrorist attacks.

“These individuals charged today are self proclaimed anarchaists who traveled together from Florida to the Chicago area,” said Cook County State Attorney Anita Alvarez. “Their intent was to commit terrorist acts of violence during the nato conference.”

Betterly, Chase and Church are accused of making Molotov cocktails to use at various spots in Chicago, including President Obama’s campaign headquarters. The three men say they were making beer.

“To find out he is accused in any type of violence and what he’s alleged to have done is just mind-blowing to me,” said defense attorney Andrew Coffey.

Coffey is representing Betterly in an unrelated trespassing and vandalism case stemming from a school break-in in Oakland Park last October.

“I have to say this case down here now pales in comparison to the allegation that he’s facing in Chicago,” Coffey said. “These are very serious allegations and it really is very different from the person I know down here.”

Occupy protesters who rallied alongside Betterly say he was not violent.

“He’s anything but a terrorist,” Jeff Weinberger said. “He’s a guy who was willing to come to the rescue to commit civil disobedience.”

Now Betterly’s loved ones say he is the one who needs rescuing.

“As much as I would love to go up there and help him, I can’t,” said the family friend who didn’t want to reveal her name. “My hands are tied. There’s nothing i can do for him.”

Betterly’s South Florida attorney says his case here was close to be resolved. He had been in court two days before he left for Chicago.

Betterly, Church and Chase are each being held on $1.5 million bond.

They’re next court date is set for Tuesday.

The men have been identified as Brian Church, 20, of Ft. Lauderdale; Brent Vincent Betterly, 24, of Oakland Park and Jared Chase, 24, of Keene, N.H. who had recently participated in the Occupy movement in South Florida.

The men’s defense lawyers told a judge that it actually undercover officers known by the activists as “Mo” and “Gloves” who brought the firebombs to a South Side apartment where the men were arrested.

“This is just propaganda to create a climate of fear,” Michael Deutsch said. “My clients came to peacefully protest.”

Prosecutors said the men were self-described anarchists who boasted weeks earlier about the damage they would do in Chicago, including one who declared, “After NATO, the city will never be the same.”

At one point, one of the suspects asked the others if they had ever seen a “cop on fire.”

Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy dismissed the idea that the arrests were anything more than an effort to stop “an imminent threat.”

“When someone was in the position (of having) Molotov cocktails — that’s pretty imminent,” he said. “It was not a completed investigation.”

The men allegedly bought fuel at a gas station for the makeshift bombs, poured it into beer bottles and cut up bandanas to serve as fuses.

If convicted on all counts — conspiracy to commit terrorism, material support for terrorism and possession of explosives — the men could get up to 85 years in prison.

Outside the courtroom, Deutsch said the two undercover police officers or informants were also arrested during the Wednesday raid, and defense attorneys later lost track of the two.

“We believe this is all a setup and entrapment to the highest degree,” Deutsch said.

Brent Betterly (Source: Photo Supplied To CBS4)

The suspects were each being held on $1.5 million bond. Six others arrested Wednesday in the raid were released Friday without being charged.

The three who remained in custody apparently came to Chicago late last month to take part in May Day protests. Relatives and acquaintances said the men were wanderers who bounced around as part of the Occupy movement and had driven together from Florida to Chicago, staying with other activists.

Court records indicated no prior violent behavior.

Documents filed by prosecutors in support of the charges in Chicago painted an ominous portrait of the men, saying the trio also discussed using swords, hunting bows and knives with brass-knuckle handles in their attacks.

Relatives and acquaintances painted a starkly different picture.

Activist Bill Vassilakis, who said he let the men stay in his apartment, described Betterly as an industrial electrician who had volunteered to help with wiring at The Plant, a former meatpacking facility that has been turned into a food incubator with the city’s backing.

“All I can say about that is, if you knew Brent, you would find that to be the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever heard. He was the most stand-up guy that was staying with me. He and the other guys had done nothing but volunteer their time and energy,” he said.

Betterly appears to have a history of minor run-ins with law enforcement.

Earlier this year, he was cited for disorderly intoxication in February in Miami-Dade County, Fla., but the case has been dismissed, according to online court records.

Authorities in Oakland Park, Fla., said Betterly and two other young men walked into a public high school last fall after a night of tequila drinking and took a swim in the pool, according to a report in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

They stole fire extinguishers from three school buses, discharged one and smashed a cafeteria window with another. The vandalism caused about $2,000 in damage. Betterly was charged with burglary, theft and criminal mischief, the newspaper said.

Chase grew up in Keene, N.H., and moved to Boston a few years ago before becoming active in the Occupy movement, said his aunt, Barbara Chase.

She said she was stunned to learn of the charges against her nephew.

“That surprised me because he’s not that dumb,” said Barbara Chase. “He always seemed harmless, but who knows? Outside influences sometimes can sway people to do things that they normally wouldn’t do.”

Elsewhere around Chicago, a fourth person was charged with terrorism. Twenty four year old Sebastian Senakiewicz of Chicago’s Northwest Side was charged with conspiring to build a Molotov cocktail to be used during the NATO Summit. Police arrested Senakiewicz about 4:15 p.m. Thursday at his home.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

The GOP is buying television ads to promote Scott’s policy successes in hopes of reversing the negative impression many voters have of him. Meanwhile, Scott and party are quietly raising money for his re-election. One Democrat has already said she hopes to challenge him and others are not so subtly considering it.

Normally, politicians and parties at least try to create the perception that they’re focused on the current election cycle and not the one after it, but this year Florida is avoiding the short breather between elections and is suddenly blurring preparations for November’s presidential and Senate races with the battle for governor that will conclude two years later.

“We can run a presidential and a U.S. Senate campaign and at the same time raise money for the governor,” said state Republican Chairman Lenny Curry before Scott addressed about 700 Duval County Republicans. “People that have been around politics understand money is the mother’s milk. It is what it is. And when prospective opponents see the kind of money we’re raising in an off election year, it will send a message.”

The state GOP is already sending messages. It’s running ads promoting Scott and his policies across the state. The first boasts that unemployment is dropping and credits Scott’s business friendly policies. The other two promote Scott’s push for a billion dollar increase in school money in the upcoming budget and a new law that tries to reduce motor vehicle insurance fraud.

While all are clearly politically motivated, they all are also directed at a wide audience. Job creation, education and preventing fraud to save consumers money are feel-good issues. Of course, unemployment is dropping nationally and Scott cut school spending his first year in office and Democrats are sure to point that out.

“It’s smart on their part — when it’s a little quiet, when Republicans are fighting in the (presidential) primary — to say ‘Let’s get on out and get the governor’s numbers up,” said Screven Watson, a Democratic political consultant. “I don’t think it’s worked. It’s hard to say in May in 2012, but he’s running out of time.”

During his speech in Jacksonville, Scott mostly highlighted his efforts to make the state more business friendly, which is exactly what the party wants right now.

“When I took office we had lost jobs for four straight years. Four years ago more people left the state than moved into the state for the first time since I think 1946. We had almost 12 percent unemployment,” Scott told the crowd before touting cutting corporate tax rates and getting rid of regulations. “Now, does it work? It absolutely works. Unemployment’s come down. We’re at a three-year low and last month unemployment’s dropped faster than any month in 20 years.”

In 2010, Scott spent more than $70 million of his own money and still barely won election in a year where other Florida Republicans easily cruised to victory.

Scott very early on was defined by his detractors as way further to the right of most Floridians. It wasn’t hard to do. Scott announced his first budget proposal in a church during a tea party rally. He hired on tea partiers to his staff. He chose conservative radio and television shows to deliver his message and shunned mainstream media.

The result was approval ratings that hovered around 30 percent. The far-right wing of his party loved him and that was about it. Scott knows he needs to turn that image around if he wants to be re-elected. He’s tried to connect with everyday folks with work days, including behind the counter at a doughnut shop, picking oranges and teaching classes.

He’s also started meeting with newspaper editorial boards. And he doesn’t go around talking about social issues, like the bills he signed in his first year that ban doctors from asking patients about gun ownership and require women to get an ultrasound before an abortion.

The idea is to try to get his numbers up now before the presidential election ends and the focus quickly turns to the governor’s race.

“A huge portion of politics is good public relations and I think it’s pretty clear that the governor has worked very hard to aggressively project and talk about what his record is,” said political strategist Brett Doster. “Rick Scott is governing well and he has upped the tempo in his public relations effort.”

Democrats, though, see the 2014 race as a huge opportunity after losing the last four governor’s races. While Scott’s approval rating has improved, it’s still low.

State Sen. Nan Rich has already said she’ll seek the Democratic nomination. Former state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, who lost to Scott in 2010, has set up the Florida Next Foundation to stay active in policy issues, much like Jeb Bush did after losing his first governor’s race.

And rumors constantly swirl about former Gov. Charlie Crist, an independent who left the Republican Party before leaving office. Some are pushing him to challenge Scott as a Democrat. Among other names party insiders mention as potential candidates: Former Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who has been rumored to be a vice-presidential candidate for months, will headline a fundraiser for Mourdock, according to CNN.

Mourdock won by going far to the right in the Indiana race. If he’s to win and go to the Senate, Mourdock has already vowed to not work with or compromise with Democrats.

“I certainly think bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view,” Mourdock told MSNBC earlier this year. “Bipartisanship means they have to come our way, and if we’re successful in getting the numbers, we’ll work towards that.”

The move could be the latest sign from Rubio that he’s not interested in running alongside Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. At a time when Mitt Romney is trying to move towards the political center, or at least center-right; being associated with Mourdock may not sit well with independent voters.

The fundraiser headlined by Rubio is set for June 4 in Carmel, Indiana.

Statewide, 52 percent of high school freshmen scored at level 3 or above, which is considered passing. Breaking that down further, 24 percent collected a 3, 19 percent collected a 4, and just 5 percent reached the top level of reading achievement.

Locally, the numbers were not much better.

In Broward County, just 51 percent of freshmen scored at level 3 or above, while 48 percent scored below passing level. Miami-Dade County saw less than half of all freshman score at achievement level 3 or above on the FCAT’s reading portion.

Even Monroe County was only able to pass 56 percent of its freshmen students at level 3 or above in the 2012 FCAT reading test.

By the time students got to 10th grade, the numbers dropped even further. Statewide, just 50 percent scored at level 3 of above among high school sophomores.

Broward County had less than half of its 10th grade students score at level 3 or above on the FCAT’s reading test. Miami-Dade saw just 46 percent of its students pass the FCAT’s reading test. Monroe County saw an increase in scores, jumping to 59 percent passing at level 3 or above.

The writing portion of the test saw the numbers drop even further under the standards that were in place until earlier this week. State officials lowered the standards when they realized not many students in the state could meet increased expectations.

Using the old system of scoring a 4.0 as passing, just 38 percent of 10th grade students statewide passed the 2012 FCAT. In Broward County, 42 percent of sophomores passed at a 4.0 or above. Miami-Dade’s passing rate would have been 36 and Monroe County’s would have been 37 percent.

For eighth graders, 33 percent passed the FCAT’s writing test statewide using the old numbers. Broward saw just 41 percent pass, while Dade saw just over a quarter pass the writing test. Monroe County saw 31 percent pass at level 4.0 or above.

Fourth graders fared even worse. Just 27 percent of students in the state passed at level 4.0 or above on the writing portion of the FCAT. In Broward, 32 percent of students in fourth grade passed at level 4. Twenty-six percent of Miami-Dade fourth graders passed the writing test; and just 21 percent passed in Monroe County.

Once the numbers were adjusted, or as critics said, cooked, to fit lowered standards; the numbers made Florida schools look downright wonderful.

Using 3.0 as a passing grade, which the state school board changed it to this week; Broward County saw 87 percent of sophomores pass. Miami-Dade County’s passing rate jumps to 83 percent, which matches Monroe County’s rate.

At level 3 or above for eighth graders, 78 percent passed the FCAT writing test. Broward now has 82 percent passing, while Miami-Dade has 75 percent passing at level 3 or above. Seventy-seven percent of eighth graders passed the writing portion of the test using 3.0 as a passing grade.

Finally, when it came to fourth graders using 3.0 as passing, 81 percent passed statewide. Broward County now has 84 percent of fourth graders passing and Miami-Dade now has 81 percent passing at level 3 or above. Monroe County scores jump to 80 percent once the passing scored was lowered to 3.0.

“We are asking more from our students and teachers than we ever have, and I am proud of their hard work,” said Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson. “Florida’s higher standards help ensure students are learning what they are expected to know so that they are prepared for college, career, and life. As Florida transitions to higher standards and higher expectations, we can expect our assessment results to reflect those changes.”

Locally, Broward County’s unemployment rate dropped from 7.5 to 7.2 percent month-over-month. Broward currently has 70,551 residents on unemployment insurance. One year ago, Broward’s unemployment rate was 8.8 percent.

In Miami-Dade County, the unemployment rate in April remained steady from March at 9 percent. Miami-Dade has 115,563 workers on unemployment insurance in April. Last year, Miami-Dade’s unemployment rate in April was 12.2 percent.

Monroe County continued to pace the state with an unemployment rate of 4.8 percent. Just 2,269 people in Monroe County are on unemployment insurance. Monroe’s unemployment rate has dropped 3.2 percent year over year.

The numbers present a problem for both Democrats and Republicans.

Governor Rick Scott and other Republicans will tout the dropping unemployment rate as proof their policies are working. However, by doing that, they are also admitting the nation’s economy as a whole is improving, contrary to their attacks on President Barack Obama.

Democrats will try to hammer away saying the numbers don’t reflect the true unemployment picture because it only includes workers currently on unemployment insurance. But, by making that argument, Democrats are admitting that the overall national unemployment numbers are not as good as earlier reported.

The Thursday conference call didn’t involve a vote, but several options for how to get more customers to not have Citizens insurance were discussed. The primary discussion surrounded a possible 30 percent increase in new policies.

Overall, new policy premiums would rise by 41.7 percent on average and non-coastal policies would see rates rise an average of 24 percent.

The thinking behind raising the rates is that by making it more expensive, less people will come to Citizens and instead seek out private insurance. Citizens is backed by Florida taxpayers. The flaw is that even as the plans are being discussed, more insurance companies are leaving the state.

The plan to push more people either off of Citizens or deterring them from coming to Citizens is being pushed hard by Governor Rick Scott.

Among the other options discussed Thursday was increasing new business rates by no more than 10 percent and increasing renewal rates by no more than 10 percent of the previous rate. By law, Citizens can’t raise rates for customers more than 10 percent in a year.

Florida chief financial officers and other key state officials said the Legislature intended for the 10 percent maximum hike to apply to all customers.

Some board members chose to blame the media for the outrage over proposed rate hikes.

“For my money, I won’t support rate increases as 60 to 90 percent rate increase in a single policy,” said board member John Rollins. “It’s simply not going to happen. The headlines focusing on dramatic rate hikes; these are not productive and there are three or four layers of checks and balances.”

But, if Citizens chooses to hike rates on new customers by upwards of 30 percent, it could result in some customers paying up to 90 percent more than neighbors who are long-standing Citizens customers.

The next meeting will be June 7th at 9 a.m. in Jacksonville and it will be open to the public. A final vote is not expected until mid-July. Any potential rate hikes would likely take place at the beginning of next year.

According to the Fox News poll, President Obama currently leads Romney by seven points, 46-39. Romney’s supports dropped from 46 percent in the last Fox News poll in the last week of April to the current 39 percent.

But the poll doesn’t close the book on Romney. According to the poll, the numbers of people who weren’t sure who they were going to vote for jumped to 8 percent. If Romney is able to capture that entire block, he can win the election.

Deeper in the numbers, Romney hasn’t been able to spark a loyal following among his supporters just yet. The poll found that 43 percent of the supporters of Romney don’t necessarily like him or his policies; they just don’t like Obama.

Romney has hitched his wagon to the economy, but his message isn’t resonating just yet with voters. The Fox News poll found both candidates in a statistical tie, with Romney claiming a slight edge, on doing a better job of creating new jobs, but 15 percent of those surveyed said they didn’t know or that neither would do a better job creating jobs.

The poll found 46 percent preferred that Obama would select the next U.S. Supreme Court justice, while 38 percent supported Mitt Romney.

President Obama saw his highest approval ratings since the death of Osama bin Laden in the new poll. Forty-nine percent approved of Obama’s job performance as President, while 47 percent disapproved.

When pollsters asked if they had a favorable or unfavorable view of the Democrat, Republican, and the tea party movement; Democrats came out ahead.

Democrats were viewed favorably by 48 percent of the voters, while 45 percent favored Republicans, and 46 percent disapproved of the tea party.

According to numbers released Thursday, the Romney campaign raised $40.1 million in the first month since he became the de facto nominee for the Republican Party. Those numbers are comparable to President Obama’s $43.6 million raised in April.

For Romney, his campaign received a major boost in April thanks to all of the other candidates suspending their campaigns, making him the de facto candidate. In March, Romney raised $12.6 million when he was still fighting for the nomination.

Currently, Romney and the Republican National Committee have $61.4 million in cash on hand. President Obama’s campaign hasn’t released the full cash on hand numbers.

For Obama, his task is to try to revitalize his ground game and once again get the minority and youth vote completely behind him. If Republicans are able to siphon off a good amount of voters in either category, Obama’s re-election campaign is likely to come up short.

The Massachusetts governor plans to attend at least five fundraisers in Miami, Coral Gables, Boca Raton, Tampa and Jacksonville, according to CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald. His campaign team hopes to raise anywhere between five and eight million dollars.

Romney began Wednesday with a rally in St Petersburg. Afterward he attended a $50,000 per person lunch at the home of developer Dick and Cornelia Corbett in Tampa.

From there he headed south. He attended a fundraiser at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. Afterward he made an appearance at the Star Island home of pharmaceutical magnate Phil and Pat Frost where dinner costs $50,000.

On Thursday, Romney begins the day at a fundraiser in Jacksonville. He’ll wrap his trip in Boca Raton at the home of Marc J. Leder of Sun Capital Partners in Boca Raton. Dinner: $50,000.

Those wishing to attend the photo-op VIP receptions at the various venues will have to drop $10,000 per person.

CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed

Officers packed the commission chambers Wednesday morning for a hearing with commissioners on an unfair labor practice complaint linked to cuts in pay and benefits the city imposed on police officers as it struggled to deal with a massive budget deficit.

As they sat in front of the city commission, the officers knew there was very little chance that they would get the money, but they wanted to make a point.

“We wanted them to look at the officers, the people who are losing their houses to foreclosure, short sales, the people that they have totally killed and look them in the face and tell them we’re going to continue to screw you,” said Jeff Morano of the police union.

The city was able to declare “Financial Urgency” and eliminate the need to negotiate, The city imposed the cuts, with support from city voters, after the union and the city manager couldn’t reach an agreement to make cuts with union cooperation.

Union attorney Michael Braverman was blunt. “The constitutional rights to bargain that my people have mean nothing,” he told commissioners. “You’ve unilaterally made these changes.”

The police and their union claim they should never have been forced to bear the brunt of the city’s financial trouble, which they claim were not of their making. They say it’s especially unfair to force them to give back since they put their lives on the line to protect the people of Hollywood.

“2011 was a banner year for police,” said Morano. “One hundred and 63 were killed in he line of duty in 2011. That’s a police officer every 53 hours, just so you know. 14 were killed in the state of Florida.”

None of the commissioners disputed the grim reality be serving as a police officer, but neither did they back down from the reason they forced police officers to take cuts. The Hollywood administration said Wednesday, as it did when it imposed the cuts, that it is out of money and out of places to get it.

“If you think for any reason that we would be making these difficult decision because you think we’re having fun or we want to hurt you, you are wrong,” said commissioner Linda Sherman.

“I think every member of the commission wants to do something.  I am definitely open to try to negotiate a resolution; it just can’t be done at this moment,” said Mayor Peter Bober.

Police officers and their union representatives said they do’t by the city’s argument that its hands are tied and there’s money.

“You have produced a budget that I will tell you looks more like some type of criminal fraud or money laundering than a real city budget,” Braverman said.

City commissioners are expected to make a decision on the union request Wednesday, but union members admitted they are not optimistic.

Romney called Mack “a friend, strong conservative and the type of principled leader we need in Washington to restore fiscal responsibility.”

Mack’s just about wrapped up the Republican nomination. His only competition of note came from former U.S. Senator George LeMieux. Then-Governor Charlie Crist nominated LeMieux to take over for Mel Martinez in 2009-2010.

But, LeMieux’s connection with the more moderate Crist has given ultra conservatives an easy way to paint LeMieux as too moderate for the current climate in Washington. LeMieux bolstered his conservative image some in 2010 when he backed Rick Scott for governor over Crist.

Mack will seek to tie Nelson to President Barack Obama’s policies. In his press releases, Mack always mentions Obama when he talks about Nelson. By doing so, he’s trying to attach Obama’s unpopularity in some voting groups to Nelson.

This year state officials checked Social Security files and concluded that people who died were still registered to vote. This was the first time the state checked the files. It was allowed under a controversial election law that passed the GOP-controlled Legislature last year.

An attorney with the Department of State told election supervisors on Wednesday they have seven days to remove a deceased voter from the rolls.

But some supervisors want to know if they will be given more proof that the voter is dead.

The move to remove dead voters comes at the same time when state officials are pushing to remove thousands non U.S.-citizens from the rolls.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

So far in May, President Barack Obama’s campaign bought roughly $25 million in advertising in swing states using campaign funds. Wednesday, Karl Rove’s Crossroads Super PAC launched a $25 million monthlong advertising campaign.

The campaign ad spending is likely to ramp up as the months go by heading towards November. For President Obama, his spending will for the most part come from direct campaign contributions with record of those donating being public knowledge.

On the flip side, his rival Mitt Romney’s direct campaign contributions were left spent after a tough primary election that he won. But Republicans have learned and mastered the art of the Super PAC more so than Democrats, which swings the money advantage back to their side.

Super PACS allow unlimited funds to be donated to groups outside the campaigns of candidates, even though the Super PACS air messages intending on building up or tearing down candidates on either side. Plus, unlike traditional campaign donations, Super PAC donors can remain anonymous.

For example, Crossroads reported it took in more than $77 million through December. The donations could come from individuals, businesses or trade groups. Crossroads reported two gifts of $10 million each and four of more than $4 million.

Combined, the Crossroads campaigns from GPS and American Crossroads, have pledged to spend $300 million to influence the election.

Obama’s campaign opened the month of April with more than $100 million in the bank, which translated to a 10-1 advantage over Romney.

Super PACs’ became major parts of the American election system after the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court eliminated most all forms of campaign finance reform.

TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

According to a new Public Policy Polling survey, 50 percent of Floridians disapprove of the way President Obama has handled the mortgage crisis, compared to 36 percent who approved of the housing debacle.

Still, nearly 70 percent of the voters “strongly or somewhat” agreed that the economic crisis was “at least partially the result of criminal actions by Wall Street executives, according to the PPP poll.

Breaking those numbers down further, 66 percent of independents, 57 percent of Republicans, and 69 percent of the Democrats agreed that criminal acts from Wall Street led to the crisis.

The poll was conducted for Democratic groups who want more accountability for the banks that sparked the Great Recession. To date, no major CEO has been charged with any wrongdoing by the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Justice Department.

“The President should heed the message independent voters are sending and show stronger leadership on housing,” said Nish Suvarnakar, campaign manager for Campaign for a Fair Settlement. “Obama can help homeowners, his campaign and the overall economy by more aggressively pursuing banks’ criminal acts and supporting meaningful solutions for underwater homeowners.”

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Miami Herald contributed to this report.)

On Monday, the state’s Board of Education released rather shocking news. A revamped grading system, designed to raise the bar of achievement, drastically dropped the number of student who passed the writing portion of the test. Parents were stunned.

“I was really surprised when I heard it this morning,” said parent Carolyn Huerkamp.

“Last year when it took it, it wasn’t really that hard,” chimed in Huerkamp’s daughter Clara who is now in the 5^th grade.

“I was shocked because last year I felt that the 4^th grade writing was excellent,” said parent Shelly Biagi.  “I thought my daughter learned so much, she did really well on the writing portion of the FCAT.” Last year 81 percent of 4th graders got a 4.0 or above on a 5 point scale; this year just 27 percent hit at least a 4.0 which was considered the passing point under the new grading system.  Passing scores for 8th graders fell from 82 percent to 33 percent.  In 10th grade, 80 percent passed the test last year, but only 38 percent scored a 4 or above this year.

School superintendents across the state were quick to point out that it was the change in the test and the grading scale, and not the kids, which cause the dramatic decrease.

“There hasn’t been a huge drop in student performance, so let’s be clear about that,” said Broward School Superintendent Robert Runcie. “What has changed is how the test results are calibrated.”

Runcie pointed out the change in the grading standard happened very quickly and schools were left with little time for preparation.

“No one should argue about the fact that we need to set high standards and expectations for our students and ourselves,” said Runcie, “But how we continue to do that and how we get there, we have to work through.”

Miami-Dade School Superintendent Alberto Carvalho agreed that too much changed without giving time schools to prepare.

“I believe the state’s accountability system has changed dramatically without notice in the past year, 18 distinct and dramatic changes over the past year,” said Carvalho.

The changes left teachers frustrated.   Jennifer Smith teaches French at Hialeah Senior High School.

“What’s changed are the rules of the game in the middle of the game without really notifying anyone.”

She said the test is failing the students, not the other way around.

“We’re being told what to teach and how to teach it and when to teach it all in the interest of bringing up test scores, and I think it’s not doing any good to the students  and I think we’re raising a generation of kids who don’t really like learning and see school as a chore,” she said.

She said teachers spend so much time preparing their kids for the FCATs, they’re missing out on other educational opportunities.

“They’ve had to eliminate novels and projects things that are good for a children’s education and also interesting which I think is what children retain in the end,” she explained. “They’ve had to either cut it back drastically or eliminate it because they needed more time for test prep.”

On Tuesday, more than 500 parents, educators and reporters joined the Board of Education on a conference call to discuss what could be done. Many questioned whether the tests should be changed and how the lower passing average will affect school grades.  They also questioned that by changing the methodology, it would be confusing to the teachers and the students.

“The state may have to recalibrate how it actually looks at school grades given the fact that we’ve gone to a new test,” said Runcie.

Concerned parents also said they felt the schools were teaching more toward passing the test rather than teaching the students.

In the end, the board lowered the passing score to a 3.0 instead of a 4.0. The emergency rule will be in effect for 90 days. The board will address permanent rules within that time.  State education workers will now go back and re-calculate the numbers of students who passed.

Sybrina Fulton, who has worked in the Miami-Dade Housing Authority for 23 years, has received a total of 34 paid weeks off (worth $40,825) courtesy of her co-workers.

Fulton wasn’t the only family member to benefit from the commission’s action. Yolanda Knight, Trayvon’s aunt who works in the county’s water and sewer department as a customer service representative, collected nearly nine weeks from fellow county employees.

A total of 192 county employees gave Fulton some of their hours while 70 donated to Knight Evans.

Commissioners Barbara Jordan, Jose “Pepe” Diaz and Bruno Barreiro put forth the measure last month which allowed county workers to donate vacation time to Fulton and Knight. Last year, the commission approved a similar measure to help the families of two police officers killed in the line of duty.

“I enjoy working for Miami-Dade County, and I continue to work for Miami-Dade County,” Fulton told the panel. “Don’t count me out so fast. I’m not resigning.”

Fulton was accompanied at the podium by her 21 year-old son Jahvaris Fulton, a Florida International University student.

“I will continue to make you proud of me as a county employee,” Fulton told commissioners.

Pearl Patterson Bethel, a contracting officer in the county’s internal services department, had never met Fulton but donated eight hours of vacation time and attended Tuesday’s meeting.

“I have a son who’s also 18 years-old, and at this time, I think it’s something we all need to rally together for her,” she said. “The county is a family, and when the family is in need, we all tend to rally together.”

Fulton has been on a crusade since her son Trayvon, 17, was shot to death in Sanford. George Zimmerman has pled not guilty to second-degree murder in the killing.  Martin’s death sparked a national debate on race and so-called “stand your ground” laws.

“As of now, I have some additional work to do for my son, on behalf of my son,” she said.

Fulton and Trayvon’s father Tracy Martin have raised nearly $100,000 to launch a criminal justice advocacy foundation in his name.

Romney’s best trait according to polls is that many see him as more able to lead on the economy, but no other issue. Romney said Tuesday the debt is out of control and “every day we fail to act, we feed that fire with our own lack of resolve.”

The White House responded immediately saying Romney’s critique was off base because of tax cuts for the wealthy, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, plus the Medicare drug program were all paid for by spending against the national debt.

The problem for Romney is that experts on both sides of the aisle predict his extension of the Bush tax cuts along with an increase in spending and no new revenue will continue to explode the deficit and the national debt.

Romney’s speech addressing the economy came at a critical time as voters began doubting big banks again after JP Morgan Chase announced last week that it had lost more than $1 billion in bad bets in schemes similar to the ones that brought down the economy in 2007 and 2008.

For Romney, he has to paint himself as a compassionate conservative who, even though he has great means, understands the plight of every day voters. The Obama campaign has sought to paint Romney as out of touch and part of the 1 percent that rule the country with their money.

The Obama campaign released an ad in several battleground states Tuesday using workers from a failed Kansas City steel mill that was bought by Romney’s Bain Capital to discuss his approach to the economy. The ad said Bain failed to restructure the company and instead cut jobs and benefits for the workers.

Romney’s visit to Florida Wednesday will come after President Barack Obama held a $40,000 a plate fundraiser in Hollywood that earned more than $10 million. Romney will attend a fundraiser at a private home Wednesday night where the cost is reportedly $50,000 a plate.

The state’s Board of Education has scheduled an emergency conference call for Tuesday to discuss reducing the passing grade.

Passing scores on the FCAT writing assessment plummeted from 81 percent to 27 percent for fourth graders and showed similar drops in eighth and 10th grades.

Passing scores in eighth grade fell from 82 percent to 33 percent. Tenth graders taking the test saw a similar drop in success. While 80 percent passed the test last year, only 38 percent scored a 4 or above on a 6-point scale this time around.

Education officials Monday blamed the plummeting scores on a handful of factors including more rigorous standards. Now, the State Board of Education has to determine what to do with the scores, which have been used to determine school grades.

Failing schools are required to put in place certain remedial programs that cost more to provide in already tight budget times.

Among the changes made over the past two years, this year’s tests were graded by two reviewers. Test standards were also raised to include more attention to writing conventions like punctuation, capitalization and grammar. The pool of test takers was also expanded to include lower performing students.

The combination proved problematic.

“When the increased threshold of 4.0 was established by rule, the State Board of Education did not have, and could not have had, impact data that would reflect how the scoring rules changes would impact student results and the school grade calculations,” the Department wrote in a justification for holding an emergency meeting Tuesday to discuss a plan of action.

“Based on preliminary results of the 2012 writing assessment, applying the 4.0 threshold in addition to the heightened scoring rules may have unforeseen adverse impacts upon school grades, warranting emergency review by the State Board of Education.”

In the short term, the board is proposing lower the passing threshold from 4.0 to 3.5; a reduction that would dramatically increase the number of students having passing scores, but the number would still be significantly less than the 2011 scores.

Under the lower standards, 48 percent of fourth graders, 52 percent of eighth graders and 60 percent of 10th graders would have passed the test. Though improved, the passing percentage is still at least 20 points lower than 2011 scores.

Mark Pudlow, spokesman for the Florida Education Association, said the dramatically lower scores point to the shortfalls of relying on such high stakes tests for funding and student assessment.

“There have been a lot of parents over the years who have been unhappy with the assessments,” Pudlow said. “Hopefully this will give us a real opportunity to see how we should evaluate students and evaluate teachers”

The advocacy group FundEducationNow.org slammed the state education bureaucracy, saying the swing in grades shows that the FCAT is a “multi-million dollar sham.”

The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.

The commercial will be coupled with a series of events Obama’s campaign is holding this week in Florida, Missouri, Iowa, Nevada and North Carolina to highlight Romney’s role at Bain Capital, a company he co-founded.

The new ad, which began airing Monday recounts through interviews with former workers the ultimate demise of a Kansas City, Mo. steel mill under Romney’s private equity firm.

“They made as much money off of it as they could. And they closed it down,” says Joe Soptic, a steelworker for 30 years. Jack Cobb, who also worked in the industry for three decades, adds: “It was like a vampire. They came in and sucked the life out of us.”

Romney, a multimillionaire, left Bain in 1999 to run the Salt Lake City Olympic Games but maintained a financial interest in the company after departing. He has said that his firm had a strong overall track record, creating jobs in prominent companies like Staples and Sports Authority, while acknowledging that some companies Bain invested in were unsuccessful.

The ad, at the unusual length of 2 minutes, will run in five battleground states: Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Colorado. The campaign declined to describe the size of the ad buy though it’s in the middle of running a $25 million, month-long ad campaign in nine states. A longer version of the ad was being posted online Monday.

Romney campaign officials said they “welcome” any discussion about jobs. “Mitt Romney helped create more jobs in his private sector experience and more jobs as governor of Massachusetts than President Obama has for the entire nation,” Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in a statement.

It’s unclear whether Obama, himself, will criticize his Republican rival on the subject when the president appears at events in New York on Monday or whether he’ll leave the skewering to campaign surrogates as he prepares to meet with foreign leaders during the G-8 and NATO summits later this week.

Also this week, Vice President Joe Biden holds two days of events in Ohio, where he’s expected to discuss Romney’s role as a corporate buyout specialist.

Romney previously had accused Obama of attacking free enterprise and called the criticism of his business background an attempt by Democrats to distract voters from the president’s record.

Both candidates were entering a new week in the campaign seeking to shift the focus back to voters’ No. 1 issue, the economy, from social issues that dominated after the president announced his support for gay marriage.

The two campaigns contend that in a nation where unemployment is hovering around 8 percent, voters will choose between Obama and Romney based on economic arguments. Obama is trying to convince voters to stick with him as he heralds an economic rebound, as sluggish as it is. Romney counters that Obama has had enough time, and only he – with his deep background in business – knows how to jump start the nation’s job market.

Now a Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness is under fire for letting the property become an eyesore.

Holness, a licensed real estate broker, acquired the home back through his real estate firm in 2003 from its owner, Henry Eccleston in 2003, according to the Sun-Sentinel. Eccleston, who was facing foreclosure, transferred the title of the home in the 2000 block of NW 28th Avenue to Holness. The process is known as a “quit claim” deed and it allowed Holness to retain the mortgage.

Holness said the deal was meant to help Eccelston restore his credit rating. He reportedly paid $10,000 for the property, but Eccleston said he received just over $2,000. Holness told the paper the rest of the money was used to bring the mortgage payments up to date and for other fees to keep it from the auction block.

In the ensuing years, the property remained had a few tenants and but was left empty. It fell into disrepair, vandalized and cited numerous times for code violations. Currently, there are $6,000 in fines levied against the property.

In 2009, mortgage payments stopped coming for the property and foreclosure action was taken against Eccleston. Holness was also named in the complaint.

Last year, Holness deeded the property back to Eccelston.

The commissioner said he is just like any other property owner who struggled to remain their homes during a recession.

“It was not always paid attention to,” Holness told the paper. “Once the vandalism occurred, it was kind of difficult to manage.”

Holness said he doesn’t have the estimated $30,000 it would take to repair the house so he’s working to line up an investor to buy it, probably for about $20,000.

The Sun-Sentinel contributed to this report.

MacNamara was originally brought in to deal with Scott’s poll number problems and to try and mend fences with the Florida legislature. While MacNamara has been in charge, Scott has met with editorial boards, dressed more casual, and is taking meetings with lobbyists, according to the Herald.

MacNamara had been planning to leave the job by the end of the year.

His final day in his position will be July 1.

Governor Scott released a statement late Saturday evening saying in part: “I’m grateful for Steve’s invaluable assistance in helping advance my agenda to strengthen education, create jobs, and lower the cost of living for Floridians.  Over the past 10 months, thanks to his expertise and guidance, we added $1 billion for education, we passed a job creation and economic development package, we passed accident fraud reform, and thanks to him, we implemented many positive changes to the way the State of Florida does business.”

Problems surfaced this week that MacNamara also tried to isolate the governor from others ended up frustrating supporters, according to the Herald. He reportedly steered a $5.5 million contract to a partner of lobbyist Jim Eaton, who is a close friend of MacNamara.

According to the Herald, MacNamara was the highest paid staffer of Scott’s and was also on unpaid leave from Florida State University where he taught communications. He said Friday the media was piling on to his work with the governor’s office.

Jacksonville political consultant Adam Hollingsworth,43, who previously worked for Scott’s campaign and was at one time a chief of staff to former Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton was appointed to replace MacNamara.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

A spokesman for the Division of Elections said Friday that state elections officials plan to check about 180,000 people for possible removal from the voter rolls.

Elections spokesman Chris Cate said, when matching voter rolls against newly available citizenship data from the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, officials found that number of possible matches, and began further investigating each one to see if they were likely to be wrongly registered to vote.

CBS4 News was the first to report on the new crackdown earlier this week.

It was learned that 2,000 of those potential non-citizen voters are registered in Miami-Dade County and at least one person on the list has had the opportunity to vote for the past 40 years.

Miami-Dade is not alone. Broward is looking at 260 registered voters and Monroe is investigating four.

Local supervisors of elections will notify each voter if they were on the list of people suspected of being illegally registered.

“Everyone of those individuals would be contacted by supervisors,” Cate said.

Each person has 30 days to respond to the County’s inquiry asking them to prove their citizenship.

Earlier this week it wasn’t clear how many more names might eventually be checked.

On Friday, Cate said the larger number was the total identified so far, but that it will take some time to further cull through that list to determine which names are most likely accurately identified as non-citizens.

“We’re still in the early stages of combing through that 180,000,” Cate said. “We have to respect every voter,” and err on the side of not purging them from the rolls if they’re legitimately registered, he said. Some additional portion of the full list of possible non-citizens will eventually be identified as likely to be wrongly registered and sent to local supervisors for possible purging. Whether all of them will be vetted before this year’s election remains unclear.

“There’s not a timeline, we are moving as promptly as we can while still being thorough,” Cate said.

Some Democrats and voting rights groups have criticized the new effort to find suspected ineligible voters. An ACLU official said this week that state officials were looking for cover while trying to disenfranchise voters.

Cate said the idea for cross-checking voter rolls with new citizenship data from the highway safety agency came from the motor vehicle department and the elections officials, not the governor’s office or the Legislature.

“Last year they (Highway Safety) started reaching out to agencies to see what info Highway Safety had that could benefit other agencies,” Cate said. “We recognized they had this non-citizen information and we jumped at the chance to see if we could improve our rolls.”

“The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.”

William McClintock Associates, the company that sent the items reimbursed the federal government nearly $18,000, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Although a Congressional office declared that Mack did nothing wrong, according to the Senitel; Senate primary rival George LeMieux did not take the situation lightly.

LeMieux said Thursday the mail piece was distributed out of Mack’s district and was an intentional effort to reach voters at taxpayer expense.

Mack’s campaign, however, said the company hired to distribute the mail piece made a mistake.

House members can use federal money to mail informational items to their constituents. A House commission approved the content of Mack’s mailer.

Republican Rep. Aaron Schock of Illinois, who chairs the commission that oversees House member mailings, said the matter was an “unfortunate mistake” and Mack complied with the law.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

The state Supreme Court said previous decisions overturning term limits for some offices for lack of inclusion in the state constitution, “overly restricts the authority of counties pursuant to their home rule powers under the Florida Constitution.”

Broward County has a 12-year term limit in its charter, but a circuit court said term limits could only be put in place through a change to the state constitution.

The Florida Supreme Court said previous decisions on term limits, primarily Cook vs. Jacksonville, were erroneous and said that opinion “undermines the ability of counties to govern themselves as that broad authority has been granted to them by home rule power through the Florida Constitution.

The Court said that it’s new decision will “promote stability in the law by allowing the counties to govern themselves, including term limits of their officials, in accordance with their home rule authority.”

There are at least 10 counties whose charters have term limits for county commissioners, including many of the most populous – in addition to Broward, Palm Beach, Duval, Hillsborough, Orange, Polk, Sarasota and Volusia all have term limits.

In January, voters in Miami-Dade, the state’s largest county rejected term limits linked to a pay raise for commissioners. A new proposal without a pay raise will be on the November ballot.

On Wednesday, commissioners voted 5-2 to accept Gonzalez’s resignation and bump up his last day to July 8, 2012.

The decision comes a day after Gonzalez submitted a letter of resignation to the city’s mayor and six commissioners following weeks of speculation that he would be fired during Wednesday’s city commission meeting. He said he would resign on May 10, 2013.

“I feel excited about the future, happy with my contribution,” Gonzalez told CBS4 News after the meeting concluded. “More than proud. 12 years, more than anybody ever expected. Sometimes things happen in life and move forward, and it’s time for me to move forward.”

Commissioner Ed Tobin was one of several commissioners who wanted Gonzalez gone immediately.

“I’d like to see a fresh start. He’s got one year of severance and a significant pension that he’ll be able to collect relatively soon. He gets $150,000 a year for life. He’ll walk away with about $300,000 in a year of severance in addition to some other health benefits. I think it’s time, I think the city is a great city but I think we need to move on, I think it’ll be difficult to hire new employees with the city in transition like this.”

In his resignation letter, Gonzalez wrote “After a great deal of thought and personal introspection, I have concluded that it is time to resign my position as City Manager, effective May 10, 2013. I do so with a continued sense of responsibility and commitment to ensure an orderly and proper transition.”

Gonzalez has been city manager for more than a decade, but has been fighting for his $273,000-a-year job since mid-April, when the FBI filed charges of extortion against seven city code and fire inspectors accused of shaking down a South Beach nightclub.

Gonzalez told a group of angry residents Tuesday that despite those city employees being arrested for corruption, he’s believes the city government under his leadership is doing a good job.

He credits himself with helping increase the city’s tourism and residents’ satisfaction with services.

Representative Alcee Hastings was the first to give a statement saying, “I commend President Obama on his decision to formally support same-sex marriage.  It is high time that gay and lesbian Americans are afforded the same rights, benefits, and protections of marriage as heterosexual couples. “

President Obama said the states should be making the final call on gay marriage. So far, 38 states have banned same-sex marriage, including Florida.

President Obama said in an excerpt from the interview that he’s concluded that it is important for him to affirm that he thinks same-sex couples should be able to get married. Obama said he came to the decision over several years of talking to family and friends.

“I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married,” Mr. Obama told ABC News’ Robin Roberts.

The move by Obama comes less than a week after Vice-President Joe Biden first said he had no problems with same-sex marriage. The White House spent much of Monday and Tuesday being turned into a pretzel trying to square Obama’s previous position and Biden’s statement.

Obama’s Republican challenger reiterated Wednesday that he does not support same-sex marriage, a view shared by the Republican National Committee.

“While President Obama has played politics on this issue, the Republican Party and our presumptive nominee Mitt Romney have been clear. We support maintaining marriage between one man and one woman and would oppose any attempts to change that,” RNC chairman Reince Priebus wrote in a statement.

Mikey Verdugo and Luis Weber of Fort Lauderdale just became domestic partners. They hope to someday get married.

“We’re no different than anybody else. We love each other, we want to be with each other, we want to share the same rights as anybody else,” said Weber.

“I definitely believe we’re one step closer,” said Verdugo.

On South Beach Wednesday afternoon, reaction was mixed.

I think it’s a great deal, very big, for the mere fact that we finally have a President that’s going to stand up for what they say,” said Ivan Cano.

Cano is gay. He came out at age 19 and says this is a day 25 years in the making for him.

“It’s time that our community, the LGBT community make sure that we back him up on it,” Cano said. “After all, this is what we’ve been waiting for.”

CBS 4 News caught up with Cano at the Lords Hotel. On it’s website, the hotel boasts being the “hottest gay resort in Miami”. But one woman we spoke to there was not pleased with the President’s position.

“I don’t think it’s okay,” said Elva Curial. “I believe in the Lord and Jesus. And the main purpose of a man and woman was to be married.”

But others we spoke to at the hotel on Collins Ave. were more accepting.

“I think that it’s good,” said Aurelie Beyutier. “My opinion about it is that not that because you are gay you can’t get married. Just, you need love.”

Some were skeptical about the weight the President’s words will actually carry.

“I don’t think he can do it for the whole United States,” said Julien Robineau.

Robineau is visiting Miami from France with his boyfriend.

They hope Mr. Obama’s position on same sex marriage inspires his new French counterpart, Francoise Hollande.

“It’s a good thing,” said Robineau. “Maybe he can do it in France.”

In Miami Beach, same sex marriage advocates say the city has been very supportive of the LGBT community. They worry, however, they will face an uphill battle to get Tallahassee lawmakers to take the same stance as the President.

“These are the people that we have to notify by mail that we have a reason to believe that they’re a non-citizen,” said Christina White, Deputy Supervisor of Elections.

Miami-Dade is not alone. Broward is looking at 260 registered voters and Monroe is investigating four.

A CBS4/Miami Herald analysis of a partial list provided by Miami-Dade shows a large number of the suspect voters have cast ballots in the past. The party affiliations seem evenly split. The analysis of 350 people shows one person voted at least 30 times.

According to the analysis of the data, some of the potential non-citizens voted in the 2000 election, that’s when the presidency was decided by just over 500 votes.

“So it’s very important that voter registration rolls are accurate and only people who are eligible, are able to vote,” White told CBS4′s Gio Benitez.

Each person has 30 days to respond to the County’s inquiry asking them to prove their citizenship. Up until recently, no proof of citizenship was required when registering to vote.

“So, if we find out after the fact that you are actually a non-citizen, and you are registered to vote, then we would report you to the State Attorney’s office,” said White.

The State Attorney may charge anyone unlawfully registered to vote with a felony.

“So if you are not [a citizen] and you check the box on the registration form that says that you are [a citizen], we are required to register you to vote, because you are taking that under oath.”

Broward Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes supports the investigation of non-citizen voters.

“As someone who has to uphold the laws of the state of Florida for elections, it’s totally inappropriate for that person to have been voting, if that’s the case,” said Snipes.

White says, in Miami-Dade, the potential non-citizen voters are a small percentage of the 1.2 million registered voters in Miami-Dade.

“So I don’t want to send an alarming message that we have a lot of non-citizens on our registration rolls,” she said.