The Tampa Bay Times is reporting that GOP voters lead in Florida when it comes to absentee ballot requests. The campaign staff for Gov. Mitt Romney sees that as a positive sign for the candidate's run against Democrat President Barack Obama.

"The Romney campaign says there is tangible evidence of the momentum toward Romney after his strong debate performance last week: absentee ballot request and returns. 'Our supporters literally can’t wait to vote for Governor Romney – and they are doing it early,' said spokeswoman Jill Bader.

"Here are the numbers, showing GOP voters are leading Democrats in absentee ballot request by more than 4 percent and in returns by more than 7 percent:

"AB Requests: REP 855,344 (43.40%, +4.43); DEM 767,968 (38.97%)

"AB Returns: REP 12,323 (45.54%, +7.51); DEM 10,289 (38.03%)"

Rick Baker, Romney Cabinet?

On the prominent conservative website The Blaze, Baker is pegged as the "exciting" choice for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. The former two-term mayor would be "a strong ideological choice, but would also be able to get some support from urban Democrats, given his ideas about investing heavily in downtown areas."

Polling Datat From Keyy Congressional Races

Here is a look at fresh polling numbers in five key battleground races via  St. Pete Polls. (Margin of error +/- 4.9%.)

•  CD 2 - Democrat Al Lawson 46.5%, Republican Steve Southerland 45.7%, Undecided 7.8%
• CD 9 - Democrat Alan Grayson 45.0%, Republican Todd Long 42.2%; Undecided 12.8%
• CD 10 - Democrat Val Demings 40%, Republican Dan Webster 51.4%
• CD 18 - Democrat Patrick Murphy 40.6%, Republican Alan West 52.6%
• CD 22 - Democrat Lois Frankel 44.3%, Republican Adam Hasner 44.6%

DCCC REDUCES BIG CENTRAL FLORIDA AD BUY  via Mark Matthews of the Orlando Sentinel

"National Democrats have scaled back plans to spend $2 million in television ads for U.S House candidates in Central Florida, reducing the amount of that reservation by at least $300,000.

"The cutback in late October is being done because the group that made the reservation — the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — sees a 'clear path to victory”'forAlan Grayson in his race.

CRIST ENDORSING KEITH FITZGERALD: First it was Patrick Murphy, then it was Al Lawson and Bill Nelson. Now you can add Keith Fitzgerald to the list of Democratic candidates being supported by former Governor Charlie Crist. Jeremy Wallace of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports threports that the former Republican turned Obama surrogate is supporting Fitzgerald in his congressional race against incumbent Republican US Rep. Vern Buchanan.