The powerful anti-tax group the Club for Growth on Monday endorsed former state House Speaker Marco Rubio in Florida's Senate Republican primary, setting up a marquee showdown with national party leaders, who have already backed Gov. Charlie Crist.

The endorsement came just days after the group announced it would release a television ad attacking Crist for endorsing President Barack Obama¹s economic stimulus plan earlier this year.

Crist has the backing of by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. But Florida is an expansive state where campaigns have to buy ads in multiple markets, so the Club for Growth commitment could make the primary battle much more competitive.

The anti-tax group the Club for Growth said Thursday that it is ready to air a television commercial in Florida that hits Gov. Charlie Crist for endorsing the stimulus bill -- one day after the governor said in a CNN interview that he never backed the $787 billion spending legislation.

The ad uses video from a Crist appearance with President Barack Obama in February during which the governor talks about the importance of passing the stimulus package.

"Since Charlie Crist helped pass Barack Obama's spending program, nearly 200,000 Floridians have lost their jobs. Unemployment is the highest in decades. Personal income's down. And the deficit in Washington is three times larger," a narrator says in the ad. "Tell Gov. Crist to work on fixing Florida's economy, not passing more debt to our children."

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, is expected to formally launch her long-awaited Republian campaign against Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer sometime this week. She has public appearances scheduled Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, though the campaign is not disclosing at what event, specifically, she will make her announcement.

Her main rival for the GOP nomination, state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, is hoping for a big announcement of his own. The DeVore campaign is hyping a conference call slated for Tuesday night hosted by the Senate Conservative Fund political action committee and featuring the PAC's chairman, Sen. Jim DeMint , R-S.C., and Erick Erickson, editor of the influential conservative blog RedState.com.

A release touting the conference call, which is being held to discuss the state of play in the 2010 Senate races, promises that "Sen. DeMint will announce at least one major SCF endorsement at the end of the call." The DeVore campaign is leaving the strong impression that it could be him.

Sen. James M. Inhofe, R-Okla., endorsed a second candidate in another GOP Senate primary, picking Rep. Todd Tiahrt over Rep. Jerry Moran in Kansas' open-seat Senate race.

Moran and Tiahrt are in a competitive race for the GOP nomination -- the winner of that contest in August 2010 is expected to be the next senator from Kansas.

Inhofe announced last week that he was backing former House Speaker Marco Rubio over Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida's GOP Senate primary.

"There is a real battle going on in Washington, a philosophical battle between [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi and her Washington liberals, who want to tax and spend this country into deeper recession and mind-numbing debt and a group of conservatives who believe we must stop bailing out Wall Street and start investing again in Main Street," Inhofe said. "Todd Tiahrt is one of those conservatives."

One of the hard things to explain to casual consumers of political news is the sometimes thin connection between philosophy and party. Not all Democrats consider themselves liberal, not all Republicans consider themselves conservative and vice versa.

The latest example of how not all conservatives march in step with the Republican Party comes from the blog RedState, which is leading a fundraising drive for four conservative Senate candidates, two of whom are running in GOP primaries against opponents backed by the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

"I won't call this the 'screw the NRSC' fundraiser, but I'm sorely tempted," wrote editor-in-chief Erick Erickson.

There's an outside chance Florida Republicans could have yet another open seat on their hands in 2010: the 21st Congressional District.

The Palm Beach Post reports that Republican Gov. Charlie Crist asked 21st District Republican Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart to fill out an application for the soon-to-be-vacant U.S. Senate seat.

Crist is tasked with appointing a successor to Republican Sen. Mel Martinez, who announced Aug. 7 he will soon resign.

The Post reported that Crist sent Senate applications to two other potential successors: former U.S. Attorney Roberto Martinez and Jim Smith, former Florida Secretary of State and state Attorney General.

CORRECTION: Corrects to say former U.S. Attorney Roberto Martinez, not former Gov. Bob Martinez, received an application.

Florida Republican Gov. Charlie Crist is in an unusual situation. He has to choose an interim replacement for Republican Mel Martinez, who will soon resign the Senate seat that Crist previously announced he will seek in the 2010 election.

Some political risk attaches to the appointment: Crist faces a determined challenger in the 2010 Republican primary from state Rep. Marco Rubio, who is running as a more faithful conservative than the governor. Martinez's successor will serve for about 16 months, and Crist's choice could signal how the governor would act or vote as a senator himself.

That got me wondering: are there other cases in which a governor made an interim appointment to a Senate seat that he or she was already making plans to seek?

While some Republicans steer clear of contested primaries, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is actively boosting several conservatives who face Republican challengers in 2010.

HuckPAC, the committee related to 2008 presidential candidate Huckabee, spent nearly all the money it collected in the first half of this year. The committee reported raising $305,000 through June 30 and was left with just $48,000 on hand. Among the committee's expenditures were donations to candidates in the following gubernatorial, House and Senate races:

Alabama's 5th Congressional District: $1,000 to Les Phillip, a Navy veteran and state party director. Phillip faces GOP competition from Madison County Commissioner Mo Brooks in the race to unseat freshman Democratic Rep. Parker Griffith. CQ Politics rates the general election Leans Democratic.

Arkansas' 1st: $1,000 to Rick Crawford, a farm broadcaster vying to unseat Democratic Rep. Marion Berry. CQ Politics rates the general election Safe Democratic.

Former New Hampshire Sen. Robert Smith has raised little money for a long-shot 2010 Senate bid in his adopted state of Florida. But the Republican's former staff certainly is loyal to him.

Smith raised just $17,421 in this year's second quarter, a pittance compared to the raised by the leading Republican candidates, Gov. Charlie Crist ($4.3 million) and former state House Speaker Marco Rubio ($340,000). Smith's few dozen donors included some former aides from his days representing New Hampshire in the Senate from 1991 through 2002.

Thomas L. Lankford, a former Smith defense aide who is now a vice president at Van Scoyoc Associates, gave $1,000 to his former boss.

The Democratic Governors Association in a fundraising e-mail Tuesday highlighted Florida, Alaska, Georgia and Minnesota as 2010 takeover opportunities.

"We know we can take back the governor's mansion in every one of these states. But these are historically Republican seats, and in this crucial election, we won't win them without a fight," DGA National Political Director Ray Glendening wrote in the fundraising pitch.

Three of the races are open seat contests and in the fourth, Alaska Republican Gov. Sarah Palin has yet to confirm her intention to seek re-election.

Former Arkansas Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee added his name Tuesday to the growing list of conservatives backing Marco Rubio, who is running for Florida's open U.S. Senate seat.

Huckabee, who ran for president last year, released on the Web a videotaped endorsement of the former state House speaker, who is running to the right of Republican Gov. Charlie Crist in the Senate GOP primary race.

"I've never seen a more energetic, articulate, principled conservative as Marco Rubio," Huckabee said. "There's no one I've seen on the Republican scene in a long time that is more committed to standing very, very firm on the things that matter to most of us like holding down spending, keeping taxes low and not believing that the government handouts is the way to build the economy."

Former New Hampshire Sen. Robert C. Smith announced Monday that he is once again officially a candidate for the Senate - this time for the open seat in Florida.

Smith, who served in the Senate from 1991 to 2003, has lived in Sarasota, Fla., for seven years. He joins a GOP primary field that includes Gov. Charlie Crist and former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio for the seat Republican Mel Martinez is leaving after one term. Four-term Rep. Kendrick Meek announced his candidacy in January and is the leading Democratic in the growing field of candidates.

"I can no longer sit on the sidelines in this fight for the soul of the Republican Party and to preserve the freedoms and values of our constitutional Republic," Smith said in a statement posted on his Web site. "I have 18 years of proven and principled conservative leadership and I proudly wear the scars of those battles... I led the fights for protecting freedom and liberty, respect for the Constitution, the preservation of the Second Amendment, the rights of the unborn, U.S. sovereignty, a strong national defense, cutting taxes and spending and reducing the size of government."

Democratic state Sen. Dan Gelber announced Saturday he has dropped his candidacy for Florida's open-seat Senate contest, leaving Democratic Rep. Kendrick B. Meek as the only major candidate for the Democratic nomination.

But that clear field for Meek may be just temporary. Corrine Brown, who like Meek is a member of Florida's U.S. House delegation, stated over the weekend that she is exploring the possibility of running in next year's race for the seat left open by retiring Republican Sen. Mel Martinez.

A bid by Brown, who had not previously been widely mentioned as a potential Senate candidate, would pit two of Florida's three African-American House members against each other. Brown and Meek have been House colleagues since the latter was first elected in 2002. He succeeded his mother, Carrie P. Meek, who was first elected to the House along with Brown in 1992.

Florida state Agriculture Commissioner Charles H. Bronson, a Republican, announced Thursday he will not be a candidate for governor in 2010.

His decision strengthens Republican state Attorney General Bill McCollum's status as the party's odds-on favorite.

The race became an open-seat contest last week when Republican Gov. Charlie Crist announced he would run for U.S. Senate in 2010 instead of seeking re-election.

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum announced Monday that he will run in next year's race for governor. His move made him the first major Republican contender to declare his candidacy for the open seat since Republican Gov. Charlie Crist revealed last week that he will run instead for the Senate next year.

McCollum touched on several major issues during his announcement speech in Orlando, including health care, transportation and education.

"Florida faces challenges today unlike any other time in our state's history," McCollum said, according to his written statement. "With your help, I will be elected Florida's next governor and together our state will grow, prosper, and continue to be one of the most wonderful places on earth to live, work, and raise a family."