Obama Narrowly Leads Romney in Florida Poll

A new poll from Quinnipiac University finds that President Barack Obama is riding a surge of support from Hispanic voters to open a slight lead on Republican challenger Mitt Romney in Florida, reports Scott Powers of the Orlando Sentinel.

Obama also is opening leads in two other swing states, Ohio and Pennsylvania, in the university polling institute's “swing state survey.”

Quinnipiac has Obama up 45-41 on Romney in Florida, in a survey conducted June 19-25. There is a 3 percent margin of error. In a May 3 swing state poll, Quinnipiac found Romney and Obama essentially tied.

Fueling the president’s lead is a surge in support among Hispanic voters.

Florida’s Hispanic voters back Obama 56–32 percent, compared to 49–39 percent in a June 21 Quinnipiac University poll, conducted before Obama and Romney each made major addresses on immigration policy in Orlando last week.

Florida Hurricane Insurance Market Soundest in Years

More than nine out of 10 Florida insurers have finances adequate to handle a one in 80 year hurricane while more than 75 percent could handle a 100-year storm, Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty told the governor and Cabinet members Tuesday. (To compare, Hurricane Andrew but varying analyses was at most a one-in 50 year storm.) Improving reinsurance markets and the increasing ability of insurers to tap into the global credit market, combine to make the state's insurance market the soundest it has been in years. Testament to the improving health of the market, McCarty said net income for Florida domestic insurers rose by more than 40 percent in the first quarter of 2012 from the same period a year earlier.

The. Bain. Attacks. Are. Working.  

In a campaign speech in Tampa, the President said: "[W]e do not need an outsourcing pioneer in the Oval Office." This line of attack appears to be working as the only income demographic Romney is leading Obama is among those making annually more than $100,000. Otherwise, Obama is crushing Romney. Obama is leading Romney among those making $30,000 to $50,000 annually by 17 points.

Judgment Day for ObamaCare

Nate Silver's advice for gauging the political impact of overturning Obamacare: [T]o the extent there are political implications from the court’s ruling, they are likely to stem from the headlines and not the fine print. If the court strikes the individual mandate while leaving the rest of the bill intact, for instance, Republicans will still have a strong talking point – the Supreme Court has ruled Mr. Obama’s most ambitious policy unconstitutional – even though this might represent a decent policy outcome for Mr. Obama as compared to a more sweeping ruling.

Judge Rebuffs Restraining Order

A judge rejected an effort to bar Florida from resuming a voter purge that is already on hold, issuing a ruling that could severely undermine the U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit against an initiative aimed at removing suspected non-citizens from the election rolls, reports Brandon Larrabee of the News Service of Florida.

At the same time Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle said his ruling was driven in part by assurances from Florida that it would not forward any more names to county elections supervisors based on a list of potentially ineligible voters that even the state concedes is inaccurate.

That list is drawn from driver license and voter-registration records.

Appeal Hearing on Florida Gulf Coast University Tuition Is Friday

The Board of Governors' Tuition Appeals Committee will meet Friday to decide whether to overturn the full board's decision on a differential tuition request by Florida Gulf Coast University. FGCU, which is in Fort Myers, had asked for a 14 percent tuition increase, but the Board of Governors approved a 12 percent hike. The appeal is the only one expected to be heard by the committee this year after a hectic meeting last week, at which a variety of tuition increases were approved, some less than what universities had requested.

Florida Health Department Has Three New Administrators

Amid continuing staff changes, the Florida Department of Health this week announced the appointment of three people to administrative posts. Patti Anderson, who has served since 2008 as bureau chief for water programs, will become bureau chief for environmental health. Ed McEachron has been appointed division director of administration, after holding the job on an interim basis since March. Also, Fabienne Ouapou-Lena, who has directed Wisconsin's minority health program since 2010, will become Florida's chief of the bureau of family health services.

TWEET OF THE DAY:@SteveSchale: only 2 numbers matter - 32.5 million votes since 1992. 57,000 separate Rs & Ds. Polls will bounce, but Fla will be Fla.

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