Image via WikipediaIn the land of sunshine and hurricanes, retirees and disgruntled victims of the Great Recession, Mitt Romney blew past Newt Gingrich to win this week's Republican primary in Florida. The former governor of Massachusetts was rewarded with fifty delegates in the winner-take-all contest.After Gingrich unexpectedly won in South Carolina, Romney had a comeback of his own prior to the primary in holding a double digit lead in the polls over the former House Speaker. It's now mostly about those two, with Rick Santorum and Ron Paul sitting this one out to concentrate on states with caucuses.
Romney had a better outcome at the two televised debates, beating Gingrich at his own game. It also didn't help Newt that he could no longer use the media as a punching bag, after turning CNN's John King into a wimp at a South Carolina debate.
First Brian Williams, who moderated NBC's debate in Tampa, told the live audience to keep quiet, depriving network viewers of witnessing Newt unleashed. Then at the CNN get-together, Wolf Blitzer stood up to Gingrich with a probing question about recent statements he made.
Gingrich has vowed to take his candidacy all the way to the GOP nominating convention in Tampa this summer, harping on Romney's unsuitability as the man to beat President Barack Obama because he's become too liberal for an increasingly conservative party. But that message will be more difficult to get out because Gingrich lacks any of Romney's money and organizational skills. And the Republican establishment has Romney's back, fearing a landslide in November should Gingrich somehow become the nominee.
We mentioned before that Santorum and Paul were already campaigning in states with caucuses. Well, one of those states is Minnesota, and that one will be next Tuesday. Don't say you weren't warned.
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