FLORIDA GUBERNATORIAL SUCCESSION OFFICIALLY CHANGED

Normally, something like this would be a snoozer, but it's an election year, and Governor Jeb Bush's signing of the new gubernatorial succession order unamiously passed during the recently ended legislative session affects the two major Republican gubernatorial candidates.

The new top three in order of succession should the governor die or otherwise be unable to fufill his duties are:

Lieutenant Governor (Toni Jennings)
Attorney General (Charlie Crist)
Chief Financial Officer (Tom Gallagher)

The Secretary of State (Sue M. Cobb), who had been second in line behind the lieutenant governor, is no longer in the mix. This new order reflects the SecState's changed status from an independently elected official to an appointed office since the 1998 constitutional amendment passed by voters cutting the size of the Florida Cabinet in half.

Of course, being an election year with two Cabinet members facing off in the GOP primary, the new succession order which moves Crist and Gallagher up a notch couldn't go unnoticed...and certainly with Crist on top, where he stands in the Republican polls.