ESTERO, FLA –-

Appearing with Florida Governor Charlie Crist and Senator Mel Martinez, Sarah Palin greeted a crowd of over 8,000 enthusiastic supporters at an arena here who roared with support when she walked on stage and cheered at every jab she made at the Democratic ticket.

The Alaska governor previewed what the next month of the campaign will be like predicting that the race will get dirty as November 4th approaches, “You know from now until Election Day hang on to your hats because you know it may get kind of rough here in terms of campaigns having to step up and kind of take the gloves off and start telling the truth about what a candidate stands for,” Palin said.

She got a laugh when she said she would do her “best to keep giving material to Tina Fey to keep her in business.”

Palin also repeated her line of attack attempting to link Obama to 1960’s radical William Ayers, but taking it a step further accusing Obama of knowing about Ayers’ connections to the Weather Underground terrorist activities and questioning his judgment:

“Today they’re saying for the first time that Barack Obama didn’t know back then about Ayers’s radical background. But it was only a few months ago that Barack was saying Ayers was just a ‘guy in my neighborhood. But, wait a minute,” Palin said. “He didn’t know a few months ago that he had launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist?”

The Obama campaign has denied Palin’s assertion that Obama and Ayers had a close relationship.

Florida Gov Charlie Crist says he will vote for the the Florida gay marriage ban this fall but will not be actively campaigning for the initiative.

“I’ll support it, I’ll vote for it, move on,” Crist said Tuesday, according to the Orlando Sentinel. “It’s not top-tier for me, put it that way.”

The paper reports:

Crist’s campaign skills might have helped the cause of Florida’s social conservatives, like last winter when the governor appeared in TV ads and billboards to promote another amendment cutting property taxes. It passed.

But when asked if he’ll spend time plugging Amendment 2, Crist said, “I don’t think so. I think I will campaign for candidates much more extensively - Sen. McCain.” The governor also reiterated his position of precluding the Republican Party of Florida from spending money to support the gay-marriage ban.

While gay marriage bans in nearly a dozen states were huge in bringing social conservatives to the polls in 2004, Florida is the only swing state with such an initiative this fall. And without Crist vocally campaigning for the amendment, it remains unclear what impact it will have.

Additionally, McCain has never aggressively campaigned on divisive social issues but with polls still showing him neck and neck with Obama in Florida, an active push for the ballot initiative could help increase turnout in the panhandle and other heavily conservative areas.

The GOP nominee will be hitting the Sunshine State early next week with planned stops in Jacksonville and Miami.

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JEROME, AZ — We caught our first glimpse today of Sen. McCain and his weekend guests, as the presumptive GOP nominee and about two dozen friends and colleagues went out to lunch nearby his vacation home.

With a number of potential VP choices gathered at his home for the weekend, including LA Gov. Bobby Jindal, FL Gov. Charlie Crist and former MA Gov. Mitt Romney, national and local media interest has been extremely high with more than a dozen cameramen and producers staked out on the road outside his Page Springs, AZ ranch.

For his part, McCain has said the weekend will not include any running mate vetting and is strictly social.

At about noon Saturday, a three van, two suburban motorcade left his property and made the 30-minute drive to nearby Jerome for a meal at the Asylum, a restaurant located at about 5,000–with a phenomenal view of the red rocks of Arizona’s Verde Valley and nearby Sedona.

In video above, Jindal, Romney can be seen walking into the restaurant with their spouses before McCain’s arrival. Former EBAY CEO Meg Whitman, Sen. Lindsey Graham and campaign Senior Adviser Charlie Black are also seen entering with the group. Sen. Sam Brownback as well as FL Gov. Charlie Crist were also reportedly in attendance.

McCain then rolled up and exited his vehicle wearing an Arizona Diamondbacks cap and a green sweatshirt.

There was no comment from any members of group upon entry or exit, but a restaurant representative said the group dined at four tables on calamari, burgers and steak sandwiches as well as drank iced tea and water.

McCain and company are also set to go hiking and fish during the holiday weekend, though the weather has not been accommodating as a consistent rain has fallen for most of the weekend.

(Above: Cameraman await developments outside McCain home. Left: A view of the famous Sedona, AZ red rocks.)

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STOCKTON, CA — McCain smirked and quickly denied that he plans on vetting any potential running mates this weekend.

“It’s just having a group of friends for Memorial Day weekend to visit us and enjoy one of the most beautiful places in America. It’s no more and it’s no less. I wanna assure you,” he told reporters.

McCain will be hosting at least 10 couples this weekend at his Sedona ranch including much talked VP candidates including Charlie Crist, Bobby Jindal and Mitt Romney. Among planned activities include hiking, fishing and a bbq for all invited guests on Saturday.

Governor Mitt Romney launched a new political action committee today just days before he is set to spend the weekend at the Arizona home of Senator John McCain.

The Free and Strong America PAC founded by the former presidential candidate and Massachusetts governor has the declared mission of supporting “officeholders and candidates who are dedicated to advancing social, fiscal, and foreign policies that will strengthen America at this critical time in the nation’s history.” The PAC will focus on electing candidates that are committed to “military strength,” low taxes, small government, and “strong families.”

In an e mailed statement announcing the launch Romney said, “America is at a crossroads. If we are to remain a leader in the world, we must be prepared to tackle the numerous challenges ahead of us with the same innovation and spirit that has made us the envy of the world. Together with the candidates we support, and the help of the American people, we can embrace solutions that will create a strong economy, strong families and a strong military.”

The political action committee has already announced several candidates that they will support including John McCain, Representative Connie Mack of Florida -a former Romney supporter, and Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, among others.

Advisors from Romney’s presidential bid are back at the PAC including Press Secretary Eric Fehrnstrom who is now a senior adviser. Peter Flaherty who was Romney’s liaison to religious conservatives will be the executive director and campaign manager Beth Myers is also back as a senior advisor.

The PAC will support conservative candidates now, but will be ready in force by the time 2012 rolls by. There has been talk of Romney launching another presidential bid — the chatter began the day he dropped out of the race.

This weekend he will be traveling to McCain’s Sedona ranch with Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal and Florida governor Charlie Crist. All are widely thought to be possible vice-presidential picks, but the McCain campaign stresses that the weekend is just “social.”

IRVINE, CA — While John McCain is hosting a number of potential running mates and their wives this weekend at his vacation home in Sedona, AZ, the campaign tells Fox that the gathering is not related to the VP search.

The presumptive GOP nominee is hosting 10 couples at his home this holiday weekend for a BBQ, including LA Gov. Bobby Jindal, FL Gov. Charlie Crist and former rival Mitt Romney–all names being thrown around as potential running mates. But other McCain friends and confidantes will be on the guest list as well, including SC Sen. Lindsey Graham.

A McCain adviser calls the weekend gathering “purely social,” and says no VP vetting is on the agenda.

McCain completes his week of campaigning and fundraising Thursday in Stockton, CA and is scheduled to fly to Sedona tomorrow night.

A spokesperson for Jindal confirms the Governor’s weekend visit, adding that he plans to discuss “issues important to the future growth of Louisiana.”

“Governor Bobby Jindal and First Lady Supriya Jindal are going to Arizona for the Memorial Day weekend to spend time with Senator John McCain and Cindy McCain at their ranch. The Governor has met with the Senator many times before and discussed the challenges facing the Gulf Coast region as communities continue to rebuild,”said Jindal spokeswoman Melissa Sellers. ” The Governor looks forward to joining Senator McCain and his other guests this weekend, and he values this as another opportunity to meet with a national leader, and the potential next President of the United States, to discuss issues important to the future growth of Louisiana.”

McCain has hosted campaign surrogates–and potential VPs–at his Sedona home during the last couple months. During the weekend of February 29, he hosted a few other names in the VP hunt including—UT Gov. Jon Huntsman, NC Sen. Richard Burr, MN Gov. Tim Pawlenty and SD Sen John Thune, among other elected leaders.

Campaign advisers have been extremely reluctant to discuss any details about the ongoing VP search for months and have only confirmed that McCain his heading up the search committee himself.

Boca Raton, FL — As the campaign sees it’s poll numbers falling and braces for a possible loss in their must-win state Tuesday, Florida Governor Charlie Crist’s endorsement of John McCain is the latest disappointment and affront to Rudy Giuliani–who has pulled out all the stops to win over Sunshine State voters and secure the Gov’s blessing.

Up until the New Hampshire primary, Crist had privately pledged to endorse the former NYC mayor (as FOX previously reported) but switched allegiances to McCain in the last two weeks, Giuliani campaign aides tell Fox News.

Giuliani’s campaign motto is “Florida counts,” he will have spent 50+ days overall and 20 days straight campaigning in the state through Tuesday and to top it off, he agreed to support a National Catastrophe fund—essentially a federal insurance bail out that would benefit Floridians suffering from high rates due to hurricanes and a pet issue for Crist.

In supporting the fund, which would cost taxpayers around the country more than $200 billion, Giuliani went against much of his underlying fiscal conservative ideology and campaign pledges to restrain Washington spending–all for Floridians and Crist.

And still no dice for Rudy.

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