Tuesday January 31, 2012 marked the most significant day so far in the race for the republican candidacy. Florida is the country’s fourth largest state with over 19 million people in 67 counties. The size of the state didn’t deter the candidates from campaigning all over the state.
When push came to shove Mitt Romney came out on top. It was his most decisive win yet, winning by 15% over Newt Gingrich. Romney got 47% of the vote in Florida as compared to his 39% in New Hampshire.
“Romney’s decisive victory in Florida has propelled his campaign well past those of the other candidates. But, even if he should be successful in gaining the republican candidacy, he must shift his attention to the Obama administration, so that whoever the republican candidate may be, he has a better chance of recovering the white house from the liberals,” Republican Noah Peskin said.
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich came in second in the race polling at about 32%. Known as the “conservative alternative” to Romney, faced an uphill battle in Florida, fighting against all of Romney’s negative adds for him.
“I think that Romney is beating Gingrich because he is a more moderate Republican, so he draws a broader base. Also, Romney has something like four times more capital than Gingrich so his resources are nearly unlimited,” Republican Mitchell Kaufman said.
Third place was reserved for Rick Santorum, the senator from Pennsylvania. Polling at 13%, Santorum’s popularity has been steadily dropping since his surge in Iowa a few weeks ago. Santorum is the social conservative of the bunch, the family man. He is strongly against abortion, pro-gun, and believes in strict immigration laws. Because of this, he is not hugely popular among the more moderate republicans, and especially unpopular with the independents.
“I don’t like Rick Santorum because he is way too conservative for the mainstream, especially with social issues,” Democrat Michael Norwalk said.
Rounding out the polls, Dr. Ron Paul. His following, which seems bigger than it actually is, is not enough to keep him afloat. His libertarian views are extremely popular with the college age kids of America. However, the college base is not pulling its weight in these primaries, where Paul has not broken the top two anywhere but in New Hampshire. Things could be looking up for Paul in Nevada however, where the Libertarian base is strong.
“Well, Paul doesn’t have the money spread his message like Romney can, he doesn’t have a super pac, and his message is threatening to the media so I think they purposely ignore him. I think he will do well in Nevada, he has done well there in the past, so it is fairly obvious that Paul could place first or second in Nevada,” Libertarian Jeffrey Greenberg said.
With Florida in the books, the candidates shift their gaze to Nevada and beyond to Super Tuesday in March. At this point in the race, it is unlikely that any of the candidates will drop out. The four of them will go all the way to the Republican National Convention this summer. That could be irrelevant though because it already looks as though Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are going to be the two real competitors. Some even say that Romney already have the race in the bag. And there are even those, myself included, that say he already has one foot in the White House’s front door.
When push came to shove Mitt Romney came out on top. It was his most decisive win yet, winning by 15% over Newt Gingrich. Romney got 47% of the vote in Florida as compared to his 39% in New Hampshire.
“Romney’s decisive victory in Florida has propelled his campaign well past those of the other candidates. But, even if he should be successful in gaining the republican candidacy, he must shift his attention to the Obama administration, so that whoever the republican candidate may be, he has a better chance of recovering the white house from the liberals,” Republican Noah Peskin said.
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich came in second in the race polling at about 32%. Known as the “conservative alternative” to Romney, faced an uphill battle in Florida, fighting against all of Romney’s negative adds for him.
“I think that Romney is beating Gingrich because he is a more moderate Republican, so he draws a broader base. Also, Romney has something like four times more capital than Gingrich so his resources are nearly unlimited,” Republican Mitchell Kaufman said.
Third place was reserved for Rick Santorum, the senator from Pennsylvania. Polling at 13%, Santorum’s popularity has been steadily dropping since his surge in Iowa a few weeks ago. Santorum is the social conservative of the bunch, the family man. He is strongly against abortion, pro-gun, and believes in strict immigration laws. Because of this, he is not hugely popular among the more moderate republicans, and especially unpopular with the independents.
“I don’t like Rick Santorum because he is way too conservative for the mainstream, especially with social issues,” Democrat Michael Norwalk said.
Rounding out the polls, Dr. Ron Paul. His following, which seems bigger than it actually is, is not enough to keep him afloat. His libertarian views are extremely popular with the college age kids of America. However, the college base is not pulling its weight in these primaries, where Paul has not broken the top two anywhere but in New Hampshire. Things could be looking up for Paul in Nevada however, where the Libertarian base is strong.
“Well, Paul doesn’t have the money spread his message like Romney can, he doesn’t have a super pac, and his message is threatening to the media so I think they purposely ignore him. I think he will do well in Nevada, he has done well there in the past, so it is fairly obvious that Paul could place first or second in Nevada,” Libertarian Jeffrey Greenberg said.
With Florida in the books, the candidates shift their gaze to Nevada and beyond to Super Tuesday in March. At this point in the race, it is unlikely that any of the candidates will drop out. The four of them will go all the way to the Republican National Convention this summer. That could be irrelevant though because it already looks as though Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are going to be the two real competitors. Some even say that Romney already have the race in the bag. And there are even those, myself included, that say he already has one foot in the White House’s front door.
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