Sarah Palin Weighs in on Florida, Leans Toward Backing Newt

While former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has generally had warmer words for Newt Gingrich, appearing on Fox News on Tuesday night, she said Mitt Romney scored a big win in the Florida Republican presidential primary -- but added that the GOP infighting was not productive.

Relative to the other primaries these are pretty large numbers for Governor Romney, thats a pretty big win for him, Palin said. $17 million spent in one state, that purchased a lot of darts and arrows that were flown in one direction and then a lot of darts and arrows were flown back, and you know, a lot of that negativity sure didnt paint the party and the cause in very attractive colors. I think that hurts the electorate ultimately; it diminishes the energy thats needed to head into a general [election], so, hopefully, from henceforth, everybody will really start focusing on whats important to debate as we go forward.

Palin added that constant attacks against Gingrich hurt him in the Sunshine State.

When a bell is rung its really tough to unring that bell, no matter how many surrogates that you have out there speaking for you, Palin said. So, yes, I think that added to a process that thus far hasnt been, again, very attractive to the electorate. It unfortunately is what keeps good people from wanting to run for office and maybe be engaged in their own government process of electing our leaders.

Saying if she were a Nevada resident, which holds its caucus on Saturday, Palin said she was leaning toward backing Gingrich.

Whomever it is to allow the process to continue, I still say competition breeds success for the U.S. and thats what we need in this debate, Palin said. As it stands, obviously, it's Romney and Newt who are closest to being the front-running candidate, so I would continue to vote for whomever it is to allow the process and at this point, it looks like it still is Newt.