Bits and pieces from the Florida Republican presidential primary ...
Florida essentially ended Mitt Romneys presidential ambitions in 2008. It was a very different story in 2012 as Romney won big in the Sunshine State. Romney took 16 percent in Miami-Dade County in 2008 and on Tuesday he carried it with 61 percent ... Romney also showed increased strength in the crucial I-4 corridor. Romney took 32 percent in Orange County in 2008 but he carried it this time out with 48 percent. John McCain won Hillsborough County with 37 percent in 2008 while Romney placed second there with 30 percent. This time out, Romney took 48 percent, beating Newt Gingrich by almost 20 percent ... Romney did not do as well on the First Coast as he did in 2008 despite the support of many of the areas leading Republicans, including Congressman Ander Crenshaw and state Sen. John Thrasher. Romney took 41 percent in Duval County back in 2008 -- slightly ahead of the 40 percent he carried there on Tuesday. In 2008, Romney carried Clay and Nassau counties; Gingrich won both of them on Tuesday night. One bastion of support for Romney on the First Coast was St. Johns County. He won it in 2008 with 43 percent. He improved on that showing on Tuesday as he carried St. Johns with 48 percent ...
Having ignored the Sunshine State to focus on other states, Ron Paul was not much of a factor in Florida on Tuesday night. He broke double digits in two counties -- Alachua and Pinellas. Paul had some of his strongest showings in some of the counties on the Panhandle and in the northern part of the state, including almost taking 10 percent in Leon and Okaloosa counties. The Paul camp argues that younger voters back their candidate -- and the congressmans showing in Alachua County -- home of the University of Florida -- and Leon County -- home of Florida State and Florida A&M -- shows there is some validity to the point ... The Panhandle also treated Rick Santorum well. While he took 13 percent across the state, Santorum broke past 20 percent in some of the Panhandle counties ...
While Rick Perry dropped out of the Republican race before the South Carolina primary, he did show some signs of lingering support in North Florida. Perrys highest showing was in Taylor County where he took 2.1 percent but he pulled more than 1 percent in several counties in the northern part of the state ... Michele Bachmann, who dropped out after the Iowa caucus, took 0.2 percent of the total primary vote in Florida. Her best showings were in two Panhandle counties -- Franklin and Liberty -- where she garnered .6 percent ... Jon Huntsman, who also dropped out of the race before South Carolina, took 0.4 percent of the total. His best showing was in Martin County where he took 0.8 percent...Despite winning the Presidency 5 straw poll in Orlando back in September, Herman Cain exited the race in December and backed Gingrich last week. Cain took 0.2 percent in Florida. His best showing was in Gilchrist County where he took 0.8 percent ...
Republican Congressman Connie Mack has to rank as one of the biggest winners in Florida after the dust settles from the primary. Mack, who is running in the Republican primary to challenge Democrat incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, worked the spin rooms for Romney after debates in Tampa and Jacksonville last week while his chief GOP rival -- George LeMieux -- remained neutral. It was a gamble for Mack and it paid off. The congressman was featured on Fox News on Tuesday, cheering Romneys big win in Florida on Tuesday night ... LeMieux did not fare badly, either. He made several national television appearances leading up to the Florida primary even though he had not endorsed any of the Republican hopefuls ... With the primary done, the Republicans are already starting to look to November. On Wednesday, the RNC named Matt Connelly regional press secretary and he will be handling Florida. Connelly is a veteran GOP operative, having been with the Huntsman campaign, Arnold Schwarzeneggers office and John McCains war room back in 2008.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
