Mitt Romney, as predicted by all the polls, won a double-digit victory over Newt Gingrich in the Florida primary.  It was a bitter defeat for Gingrich in a primary dominated by negative attack ads where he was outspent by Romney $17 million to $5 million.

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Romney won 46% of the vote, while Gingrich finished with 32%.  Since Florida is a Winner Take All primary, this gives Romney all 50 of the Florida delegates (that is unless the Republican party penalizes Florida and takes away some of their delegate count at the Republican National Convention because Florida moved their primary to an earlier date this year).  This could be important later if the race between Romney and Gingrich tightens.  Rick Santorum ended the day with 13% and Ron Paul trailed the field with 7%.

newt_46_states_to_go
Newt’s sign reminds supporters that Florida is just one state in a long primary process.

During Romney’s victory speech, he told supporters, “A competitive primary does not divide us, it prepares us. And we will win!  When we gather back in Tampa seven months from now for our convention ours will be a united party and a winning ticket for America.”

Newt Gingrich’s speech was impromptu and compelling and designed to take the focus off the Florida result. It was a “We the People” speech, where he spoke behind a banner that read, “46 States To Go,” and said, “We will use people power to defeat money power!”  He closed his speech with the lines from the Declaration of Independence … “I promise you, I pledge my life, my fortune and my sacred honor.”

Fox News has interesting recaps of the Florida exit polls and videos of all four candidates’ speeches, which you can see HERE.

Romney now has 69 delegates, Gingrich 23, out of a possible 1,144.  Exit polls suggest that Romney is winning the votes of moderate Republicans, married women and voters with incomes over $100,000, while Gingrich is winning the Tea Party, conservative and evangelical vote.

Tea Party Nation conducted a poll from January 22 – 31, which shows that, nationwide, Tea Party conservatives favor Gingrich 58.8% over Romney’s 9.8%.  In that same poll, Ron Paul received 15.7% of the vote and Rick Santorum received 13.7%.

As I predicted during a guest appearance Tuesday morning on KUSI TV in San Diego, even if Romney goes on a momentum spree, I expect Gingrich and Paul to stay in the race to the bitter end, allowing them to rack up valuable delegates and political currency in the process.  All of this should lay the groundwork for a colorful and perhaps dramatic republican party convention this summer—something which should be of concern to the Republican party establishment.