Romney romps to victory in Florida primary
Momentum shifts again in race for Republican presidential nomination
First came The Setback. Now it’s The Comeback.
Mitt Romney romped to victory in Florida’s Republican primary on Tuesday, rebounding from a surprise loss to Newt Gingrich in South Carolina and reclaiming front-runner status in what has been a highly unsettled GOP presidential race.
It was a convincing win, in every sense, for the former Massachusetts governor, and may help him make the case with Republicans elsewhere in the U.S. that he is emerging as the party’s inevitable nominee.
With 80 per cent of Florida’s precincts reporting, Romney had 47 per cent of the vote compared to 32 per cent for Gingrich, the former U.S. House Speaker.
Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum was third with 13 per cent support and Texas congressman Ron Paul was a distant fourth with seven per cent of the votes.
Gingrich, speaking to supporters in Orlando, said he would continue his campaign and that “people power” would prevail over the “money power” embodied by Romney.
“It is now clear that this will be a two-person race between the conservative leader, Newt Gingrich, and the Massachusetts moderate,” said Gingrich, who stood in front of a sign that read ‘46 States to Go.’
“We are going to contest every place, and we are going to win.”
Gingrich vowed that, on the first day of his presidency, he would authorize the Keystone XL oilsands pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf Coast of Texas.
To the people of Canada, Gingrich said: “Don’t cut a deal with the Chinese. Help is on the way.”
According to exit polling, Romney fared best among non-evangelical Republicans in Florida. He narrowly outpolled Gingrich among supporters of the Tea Party movement. Gingrich fared marginally better than Romney among evangelical voters.
The triumph in Florida marked the second win for Romney, after New Hampshire, in four presidential nomination contests held so far this winter.
And to the victor go the spoils. Because the Florida Republican party follows ‘winner-take-all’ rules for its primary, Romney gets all 50 of Florida’s delegates to the party’s national convention this August in Tampa.
The former Massachusetts governor is hoping the Florida results will give him a shot of momentum as the GOP campaign shifts west to Nevada, which holds its presidential caucus on Saturday.
Romney had limped into Florida after a double-digit loss to Gingrich in South Carolina, but regained his political footing during two well-reviewed presidential debates in which he portrayed his rival as an unethical Washington insider.
The more aggressive tone against Gingrich extended to the Florida airwaves, with residents bombarded with relentlessly negative advertising and personal invective from both candidates.
The former Massachusetts governor outspent Gingrich about five to one on advertising.
The sharp attacks continued throughout the final day of voting.