Romney cruises to double-digit win over Newt Gingrich and re-establishes himself as favourite to win Republican nomination
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney cruised to victory in the crucial Florida primary, crushing his main rival Newt Gingrich and re-establishing himself as the party's frontrunner to take on Barack Obama in November.
Romney bounced back from his defeat at the hands of Gingrich in South Carolina just 10 days ago, winning a huge double-digit victory that reverses the momentum Gingrich had coming out of the previous primary.
With 98% of the votes counted, Romney took a massive 46.4% to Gingrich's 31.9%. The social conservative Rick Santorum came third with 13.3%, and Texas congressman Ron Paul fourth on 7%.
In his victory speech in Tampa, Romney suggested that Democrats should not take comfort from the way Republicans have been attacking each other over the last few weeks.
"Primary contests are not easy – and they're not supposed to be. As this primary unfolds, our opponents in the other party have been watching. They like to comfort themselves with the thought that a competitive campaign will leave us divided and weak," he said.
"But I've got some news for them: a competitive primary does not divide us; it prepares us. And when we gather here in Tampa seven months from now for our convention, ours will be a united party with a winning ticket for America."
The Republican convention in Tampa in August will formally annoint the party's presidential nominee.
With victories in two of the first four contests, New Hampshire and Florida, Romney put the setback of South Carolina behind him, not once criticising Gingrich in his speech – as he has done relentlessy over the last few weeks at campaign stops and in television ads. Instead, he behaved as he did at the outset of the campaign a month ago, as if he already was the Republican nominee, devoting the remainder of his speech to criticising Obama.
In Florida, Romney fought one of the most relentlessly negative campaigns in recent US history. An independent monitoring group reported that 99% of his ads aired in Florida were negative. Gingrich estimated Romney and his supporters spent $17.5m on the ad blitz.
Only about 40% of Republican voters interviewed for the exit polls said they were influenced by the ads, compared with two-thirds who cited debate peformances. Romney has come off second best to Gingrich in most of the 19 debates so far, except for the most recent one, on Thursday in Jacksonville, Florida.
Gingrich, at his election night party in Orlando, possibly smarting from the ad blitz, was far from gracious. He took a swipe at Romney and the huge amount of cash at his disposal, vowing that "people power will defeat money power".
He did not adere to the tradition of congratulating Romney on his victory, nor did he immediately call him to concede.
Before he embarked on a rambling speech about what he would do in his first days as president, Gingrich warned the "elite media" against writing him off as they had done before.
He cautioned that there were still 46 of the 50 states to go, and said: "We are going to contest every place, and we are going to win, and we will be in Tampa as the nominee".
In a hint that Santorum should quit, Gingrich said: "It is now clear this will be a two-person race between the conservative leader and the Massachusetts moderate."
If Gingrich can entice Santorum to pull out, he might be better placed to make Romney sweat. Gingrich's votes plus Santorum's would have made Florida tight.
While the Republican establishment will welcome Romney's victory over Gingrich, who is widely viewed as too volatile to be the presidential candidate, there will be concern over the exit polls showing grassroots disatisfaction with all four of the candidates fighting for the presidential nomination.
Gingrich has emerged as Romney's main contender, but is struggling with baggage that includes being penalised for an ethics violation while House speaker, and for his work as a consultant for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, blamed by the right for the housing crisis, a big issue in Florida.
Fewer than six in 10 of the voters surveyed in the exit polls said they were satisifed with the present crop of candidates. Younger voters in particular were unhappy with the choice on offer. Conservatives, too, are finding it hard to warm to Romney or any of the alternatives.
With wins in New Hampshire and now Florida, Romney is facing a relatively comfortable month of six caucuses and primaries in states that, at least on paper, appear largely favourable to him. He won in 2008 in Nevada, Maine, Colorado, Minnesota and Michigan. The other, Arizona, went to John McCain in his home state.
With the race becoming more fragmented, spread across a number of states, Romney has scheduled for his first campaign stop Wednesday, Minnesota.
Paul has an outside chance of springing a surprise, possibly in a state such as Maine. But there is not much for Gingrich to look forward to until Super Tuesday, on 6 March, when 10 states, including Texas, come into play. As a southerner – Gingrich grew up in Georgia – he must have hopes of taking this delegate-rich state. But it far from a given. He must hope too that Ohio, another state with plenty of delegates on offer, is also competitive.
Paul opted against campaigning in Florida to concentrate on Maine and other states. Santorum left the state on Friday and did not return, mainly because of his young daughter Bella's ill health.
Santorum, asked after the results came in whether he would quit, insisted he will stay in the race and expected it to be a long process, even though he is desperately short of funds.
The high level of disatisfaction with the candidates offers some hope for Obama, who is facing a tough re-election battle with the economy slow to recover from recession and unemployment still high.
There is less succour for Obama in other findings. Voters interviewed for exit polls expressed pain over the state's weak economy and the housing market collapse. Three in 10 said they were falling behind financially, a serious concern for Obama in a state that is often decisive in White House elections.
But first, the Republicans have to resolve their own internal battle. Florida, unlike other states that for the first time are awarding delegates on a semi-proportional basis, was winner-takes-all. All 50 delegates from Florida go to Romney but it is still only a tiny proportion of the eventual delegate total needed to win, 1,144.
Santorum won the first contest in Iowa because of his strong anti-gay, social conservative views but this failed to resonate in Florida where voters are relatively more liberal on social issues.
Six out of 10 voters interviewed for the exit polls cited the economy rather than ideological or social issues such as abortion as their main reason for choosing a candidate. Half expressed concern about the state of the housing market.
Latinos make up a large bloc of the Republican vote in Florida – a high proportion of Cuban Americans traditionally vote Republican – and this is reflected in the large expression of support for offering illegal immigrants a route to citizenship. About a third of those interviewed expressed support for the plan.