Senate and House members quickly reached a consensus that Scott’s plan to boost school spending to record levels was flawed because it put the cost almost entirely on homeowners and businesses that would have been hit with higher property tax bills for schools — even if the tax rate stayed the same.

UNF Poll: Clinton has 54-24 lead

"Hillary Clinton is maintaining a massive lead over Bernie Sanders in a new Florida Democratic primary poll that shows she’s pulling strong support from African-American and Hispanic voters."

The strong minority support underpinning Clinton’s 54-24 percent lead over Bernie Sanders in the University of North Florida poll bears a resemblance to her outsized backing by black voters in South Carolina, where the former secretary of state beat the Vermont senator by taking an astonishingly high 74 percent of the vote.

The poll of 685 adult registered Democrat likely voters, identified from the Florida voter file, was conducted Feb. 22-27 and has a margin of error of 3.74 percentage points.

More: "Bill Clinton rallies voters in Miami Gardens" and "Bill Clinton and black officials highlight policing issues at Miami Hillary event"

Early voting

"Early voting in Florida primary kicks off today in Hillsborough."

VP Scott?

Kevin Derby: "After three wins in a row, Donald Trump looks like a solid favorite to win the Republican presidential nomination--and he could be looking to the Sunshine State to find a running mate." "Rick Scott For VP Does Have Some Merit for Donald Trump."

Raw political courage

"House Floats Proposal to Hold Property Taxes Level."

Lake O Emergency

"Following sustained rainfall and record Lake Okeechobee discharges, Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency Friday in Lee, Martin and St. Lucie counties." "Scott Declares State of Emergency for 3 Counties Hurting from Lake 'O' Discharges."

Dream on

"How Rubio could lose every state on Super Tuesday and still win."

"What's hot, crazy or shady about politics in the Sunshine State"

Marc Caputo: "516k have voted in FL prez primary – why Rubio went Trump now – Clinton still crushing Bernie in new FL poll -- Docs v. Glocks still in court – FL GOP’s gains – ‘Streetfighter’ Carlos Beruff." "Florida Playbook."

"Cue the violins"

Carl Hiaasen writes that, "at Trump’s ultra-posh Palm Beach resort, foreign-born workers have a much better chance of being hired than locals who seek the same positions."

“Getting help in Palm Beach during the high season is almost impossible,” the Big Orange Trumpster grumped to MSNBC last fall. Cue the violins.

According to the New York Times, since 2010 at least 296 American workers have applied or were referred to Trump’s oceanfront Mar-a-Lago Club to fill openings for cooks, housekeepers and wait staff.

Only 17 U.S. applicants were hired, according to federal records. That’s slightly less than 6 percent. The rest of those Mar-a-Lago jobs were filled by foreign workers, many from Romania, for whom Trump’s club obtained legal visas.

Of those many Americans who didn’t get hired, Trump said: “The only reason they wouldn’t get a callback is that they weren’t qualified, for some reason.”

A few undoubtedly weren’t qualified, but out of nearly 300 there had to be way more than 17 who could make the cut. Otherwise it’s a harsh slam on the diverse hospitality trade in the Palm Beach area.

Maybe the Trumpster has different employment standards for his kitchen staff and waiters — for instance, they have to speak Romanian. That would definitely narrow, and whiten, the labor pool.

House and Senate leaders agreed Friday to eliminate incentive funding for the Quick Action Closing Fund, a program run by Enterprise Florida, the state’s public-private economic development arm. Its goal is to use taxpayer dollars to lure businesses to relocate or expand in the state.

"A Costello thing"

The Tallahassee Democrat editors: "A report last year by the Corrections Medical Authority last year cited serious deficiencies in the quality of care provided in the prison system."

And just what is the Corrections Medical Authority, you may wonder?

Well, it was part of a settlement the state reached in 1993, ending a 21-year court case known as the “Costello suit.” A convicted killer sued the state in 1972, alleging that extreme crowding, filthy conditions and inadequate medical care violated the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition of “cruel and unusual punishments.”

Through the terms of four governors, three corrections secretaries and a couple decades of litigation, Florida’s prison system was essentially run by a federal judge and appointed court monitors. For years afterward, when law-and-order legislators grumbled about turning prisons into country clubs, hapless administrators would shrug and say this or that reform was “a Costello thing.”

Professor Rubio rakes it in

"Marco Rubio released summaries of his last five years of tax filings on Saturday, revealing him to be a candidate with a senator’s steady annual income of $176,000 who reaped repeated windfalls from book deals. During his first four years in the Senate, Rubio and his wife, Jeanette [a self-proclaimed 'entrepreneur'], together earned an average of $531,000 a year."

The returns Rubio released on Saturday do shed a bit more light on his wife’s business relationship with a family foundation connected to Norman Braman, a wealthy Miami car dealer and Rubio supporter.

And let's not forget the Professor Rubio thing:

He began his teaching at the school as a Visiting Distinguished Service Professor at the Metropolitan Center, the school's urban think tank. That position entailed co-teaching two classes with longtime friend and pollster Dario Moreno, as well as "conducting research, assisting with recommendations and developing a proposal for a demonstration project on affordable housing," according to a release announcing his hire at the time.

For that, he would earn $69,000 — a salary that Moreno told the Miami Herald at the time was considerably more than the $52,000 another part-time visiting professor at the center was making.

It was a salary that raised eyebrows among some FIU professors, prompting questions at an FIU Faculty Senate meeting late last year.

"How do we justify paying him as much as we do to teach one course?" asked Amy Paul-Ward, an associate professor in the Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing and Health Sciences, according to the FIU student paper. "I know there are qualified adjuncts in our school who we have trouble paying $3,000 to teach a course."

According to his office, from August of 2008 - November of 2009, Rubio raised approximately $125,000 for the Center — enough to cover his salary and then some. A sizeable chunk of that, $100,000, came from Norman Braman — the wealthy auto magnate who's been a longtime benefactor to Rubio, is helping to bankroll his campaign and whose charitable foundation employs Rubio's wife.

In Florida, Sanders leads Clinton by 51% to 39% among likely Dem voters aged 18 to 44

So much for that "socialist" bugaboo:

Sanders, who has energized young voters and small donors, leads Clinton by a margin of 51 percent to 39 percent among voters ages 18 to 44.

But Clinton, a former First Lady, New York senator and secretary of state, leads by a margin of 64 percent to 28 percent among voters ages 45 to 64. The gap is even wider among voters who are 65 or older, with Clinton leading by a margin of 73 percent to 21 percent.

Female voters also give a huge edge to Clinton, who is seeking to become the first woman elected to the White House. Clinton leads 69 percent to 24 percent among Democratic women, while Sanders leads by a margin of 47 percent to 43 percent among men, the poll shows.

The poll of 476 likely voters has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.

Scott laff riot

"Rick Scott shrugged off speculation about becoming Donald Trump’s running mate Wednesday, but said the billionaire businessman’s booming presidential campaign is 'fun to watch.'" "Rick Scott dodges questions about Trump VP prospects."

How about Joe Shoemaker?

"Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith is headed to retirement."

The Florida House on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill that would lead to removing a statue of Smith from the National Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol. Gov. Rick Scott indicated he likely will sign the bill (SB 310), which had already passed the Senate.

"Just because those who we honor are replaced by future people doesn't mean that the person who was there previously is any less brave or any less valiant," House sponsor Jose Felix Diaz, R-Miami, said. "We just continue to add to the history of Florida. We're certainly not trying to forget the history of Florida."

Each state is allowed two statues in the National Statuary Hall, and Florida is represented by statues of Smith and John Gorrie, widely considered the father of air conditioning. Under the bill, a committee would recommend three prominent Floridians as potential replacements for Smith, and the Legislature would pick one whose statue would be placed in the hall.

Hopefully one of the three will be a largely forgotten Florida labor martyr, Joseph Shoemaker:

Although Florida Klansmen continued to terrorize African Americans during the depression, "they expanded their targets to include union organizers, particularly in the citrus belt from Orlando to Tampa. One of the most notorious Klan incidents in Florida history occurred in Tampa in 1937, when labor organizer Joseph Shoemaker was flogged, castrated, and tarred and feathered. Shoemaker eventually died from his injuries." "PBS' Florida Terror: The KKK in Florida."

"But the groundbreaking was all bogus"

Pierre Tristam: "The company was Aveo Engineering. "

The promise was of 300 well-paying jobs and a manufacturing plant that would make really cool aircraft lights. Great. So great that Gov. Scott came down, every local government bigwig came out, the county’s economic development folks fell all over each other congratulating themselves, and of course all of us media schmucks, about a dozen of us, came out and gave the occasion lavish coverage.

We had no reason to doubt what we were being told. Aveo CEO Christian Nielsen was projecting construction to begin swiftly, hire 50 people that year and 300 by this year. He signed a 40-year lease six a few weeks later.

But the groundbreaking was all bogus.