Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney established himself as the clear front-runner to take on President Barack Obama in November with a decisive win in Tuesdays Florida Republican presidential primary.
Thank you tonight for this great victory, Romney told a cheering crowd in Tampa on Tuesday night after the results were clear.
With 78 percent of the votes counted, Romney, who won 18 counties and took 31 percent of the vote in Florida when he ran for the Republican nomination in 2008, had 47 percent -- far ahead of his nearest rival, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who had 32 percent. Romney showed strength across the state, doing well all across Florida as he built solid leads in populous urban and suburban areas such as Hillsborough, Manatee, Martin, Miami-Dade, Orange, Pinellas, St. Johns and Volusia counties.
This marks Romneys second victory in the battle for the Republican presidential nomination. Earlier in the month, he won the New Hampshire primary and narrowly lost the Iowa caucus to former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.
Gingrich, who won the South Carolina primary, won some of the counties in the northern part of the state -- some of which border his home state of Georgia -- including Baker, Clay, Dixie, Lafayette and Liberty counties.
Santorum placed third with 13 percent and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas lagged with 7 percent. Paul also did poorly in Florida when he ran for the GOP nomination back in 2008, taking less than 3.25 percent of the vote.
Romney sought to unite the party in his victory speech on Tuesday night, taking aim at Obama and promising to return to the Sunshine State at the Republican convention with a united party with a winning ticket for America.
The Republican front-runner ripped into the presidents economic record, noting how Florida is still trailing the nation in economic recovery.
Mr. President, you were elected to lead, Romney said. You chose to follow. Now, its time to get out of the way.
Romney also repeated his pledge to repeal the federal health-care law that Obama signed and vowed to fight for free-market solutions, stressing that his experience in the private sector would help turn the economy around.
Santorum and Paul had seen the writing on the wall and abandoned the Sunshine State to focus on later contests. Both men spent Tuesday night in Las Vegas while Romney based his election-night activities in Tampa and Gingrich was in Orlando.
Speaking to supporters in Orlando, Gingrich said this is now a race between a clear conservative and a Massachusetts moderate. He promised to fight on, noting there are 46 states to go.
Talking to supporters in Las Vegas, Santorum said Gingrich had his chance after South Carolina -- and blew it by losing to Romney on Tuesday. Santorum vowed that he would continue in the race. He planned to take aim at Obamacare and Romneycare in a speech in Nevada on Wednesday.
Paul spoke to a cheering crowd of supporters in Henderson, Nev., and had to hush some boos when he mentioned that he had called Romney to congratulate him on his win. The congressman said he would continue to focus on Nevada, Maine and Colorado in the weeks to come.
We will spend our time in the caucus states, Paul promised, insisting he would do well in them.
Something big is happening in this country, Paul said, promising to continue to battle for liberty. At the grassroots, people are starting to realize the problem is government ... we need more personal liberty.
About 2 million Florida Republicans hit the polls and more than 650,000 voted early or by absentee ballot.
Romney had won the support of some of the leading Republicans in Florida -- state CFO Jeff Atwater, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam and Attorney General Pam Bondi in the Cabinet; two former U.S. senators -- Connie Mack and Mel Martinez; congressmen including Sandy Adams, Ander Crenshaw, Connie Mack, John Mica, Mario Diaz-Balart, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Jeff Miller and Tom Rooney; and members of the state Legislature including Senate President Mike Haridopolos, Sen. John Thrasher, Sen. Anitere Flores and incoming House Speaker Will Weatherford.
Gingrich had the support of former state Attorney General Bill McCollum and former state Rep. Kurt Kelly. Florida Rep. Scott Plakon and social conservative leader John Stemberger endorsed Santorum.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
