New poll shows Romney with large lead in Florida

Public Policy Polling has the story:

Mitt Romney has a double digit lead for the Republican Presidential nomination in Florida, further cementing his front runner status in the wake of Mike Huckabee's exit from the race.

Romney is at 27% to 17% for Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, 10% for Herman Cain, 8% for Newt Gingrich, 7% for Ron Paul, 4% for Tim Pawlenty, and 2% for Jon Huntsman.

Romney now has the outright lead in PPP's most recent polls in all 5 of the key early Republican contests: in addition to the Florida advantage he's up by 9 in South Carolina, 6 in Iowa, 15 in Nevada, and 23 in New Hampshire.

Beyond Romney's continued strength the big stories here are the rise of Michele Bachmann and the collapse of Newt Gingrich. Bachmann's 17% standing represents a 10 point gain from PPP's last Florida poll in late March, when she stood at only 7%. Her strength comes from leading the field with 'very conservative' voters at 21%, followed by Palin at 20%, and Romney at 18%.

Romney's Florida lead is built on a familiar formula. He's not winning with the far right voters who constitute a plurality of the Republican electorate, but he's at least staying competitive with them. Meanwhile he's dominating the field with moderates (a 36-15 lead over Palin) and with voters who identify themselves as just 'somewhat conservative' (a 32-15 advantage over Bachmann.)

Read the whole story here.

Rubio to visit Sarasota for fundraiser

U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio - a darling of no less than Sarah Palin - will be in Sarasota later this week to pick up some cash for his campaign.

Rubio, a former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, is currently leading in most opinion polls in the race against Gov. Charlie Crist for the Republican nomination for the seat now held by Sen. George Lemieux, who was appointed by Crist after Mel Martinez resigned.

On Thursday, Rubio is scheduled to appear at a fundraiser sponsored by Sarasota Volunteers for Marco Rubio at the Sarasota Yacht Club, 1100 John Ringling Blvd., Sarasota. The event will run from 3 to 4:30 p.m.

So far this year, Rubio has raised more than three times as much money as Crist for their respective campaigns. Rubio has reported raising $3.6 million, and Crist has raised $1.1 million.

Organizers are asking attendees at the Sarasota event to donate between $500 and $2,400 - the maximum allowed by federal election law during the primary campaign. For more information or to donate a smaller amount, contact Gale Wyman at (941) 312-6100 or wymanlees1@comcast.net