Gingrich won about 90% of the northern counties in Florida.. many with large margins.

[DCBob]

This bodes well for him in the remaining southern, redneck, bible belt states. Not sure he has a realistic chance to win enough delegates to keep Willard from getting the majority but I think he is not giving up.

http://www.cnn.com/election/2012/primaries/county/map/r/fl?hpt=hp_pc1

[Ebadlun]

1. Keep the faith Newt!

You momentarily useful lunatic.

[DCBob]

2. Ha! Yes he is!

[RockaFowler]

3. The Redneck Riviera loves him

My mom lives in Ft Walton - they hate President Obama so much up there that they are willing to sell their soul to the devil himself (Newt). They think Newt is more family values than the President. I hate to say it - very naive people up there. My poor mom really needs to leave that area . . .

[Ebadlun]

4. More family values than a happily-married monogamist?

How does that work?

Unless 'family values' is code for 'anti-gay'.

[KharmaTrain]

5. Proof That The GOTB Is Rapidly Becoming A Regional Party...

I had to laugh at Gneut's boast of "46 more states"...as if somehow Florida was some anamoly...and all that he needs are to win the backwards and more racist states to either win the nomination or somehow vindicate his candidacy. Either way it's another display of this demagogic narcassist's myopic view of his world and his corrupt and inept party.

I don't see Cadrich winning any election...including rushpublican primaries in any of the Northern states...or in any of the caucuses. Maybe...he'd win about 9 or 10 states...proof as to how fractured and regionalized the rushpublicans have become. They think that winning the south is some sort of gateway to winning the country. Think again. Or, on the other hand, I hope they continue with this arrogant mindset as they alienate hispanics, blacks and anyone with an IQ higher than their shoe size...

[onehandle]

6. Not a lot of Southern states are coming soon. And he did not get on the ballot in LA. nt

[quaker bill]

7. Romney won by stacking up large margins

in the normally blue counties, most of which will go very heavily for Obama in the fall. He did win some normally red counties, but his margin was at best below his average for the state, and in most cases he lost the red to very red counties to Gingrich.

To win the State he will need strong turnout and large margins in all the Newt counties, plus some of the usual purple counties, and he will need to flip a few of the blue ones. Many of his strongholds in this primary will vote for Obama in November by margins of +20 or more. These are places every dem has won heavily for a very long time, so having his best support there means little. The winning margin for Republicans comes from huge margins and large turnouts in the Newt counties where Romney's support is most tepid.

The map suggests Romney currently would lose FL worse than McCain did.

[JNelson6563]

9. Excellent points QB.

Great to see you. Always enjoy reading your insightful posts.

Julie

[customerserviceguy]

8. I figured he'd win the Panhandle

I was there in the spring of 2004, they consider themselves "LA", or Lower Alabama.

By the way, Bob, congratulations, I sure do owe you a beer! Spectacular fail on my part, I guess I don't know Florida like I thought I did. I certainly haven't been to every part of it, and I suppose that much of it is pretty much a "Northeastern" state, since so many from around here have moved there, and taken their political sensibilities with them.

I figured Mittens had a really bad week when his taxes came out, and we could all see just how different he was from the rest of us. However, he did have his best two back-to-back debate performances, and that really must have helped him. Also, I underestimated just how tired even Republicons are of hearing Noot whine, the establishment types really went all-out to diss him. I know that Florida has been suffering hard from the decline in housing prices, perhaps GOP voters figured that Willard would be more effective in working with Congress to get something passed than would the combative Gingrich.

If Santorum manages to find a way to stay in, he'll certainly hand the nomination to Romney. I don't see how he survives February, but I didn't see how he had enough gas to drag away 13-14% of the vote in Florida, either.

[DCBob]

14. The GOPer voters have been all over the place this year.

Anyone who predicts them correctly most likley did it by accident.

There is still a long way to go and I suspect there is still some major ups and downs ahead.

[racaulk]

10. The biggest prize coming on Super Tuesday is in Georgia with its 76 delegates.

IIRC, Georgia is a winner-takes-all state (no proration of delegates). If Newt performed well in the northern counties of Florida, I'm sure he will do just as well here in Georgia. And considering this is his home state, I bet he's got it on lock. I imagine he will do well in other states in the Southeast as well.

The momentum is definitely on Romney's side, but I don't think Newt is out of this just yet.

[morningfog]

11. I see Newt staying at least until Super Tuesday.

I wonder, though, about how long Santorum hangs around. The sooner he gets out, the more damage to Mitt.

Mitt should be paying Santorum to stay in, if he isn't already.

[racaulk]

12. I have wondered the same about Santorum.

There is no question that Santorum's continued presence in the primaries is hurting Newt's chances of winning. If Santorum had dropped out prior to Florida's primaries and assuming that most of his votes would have gone to Newt (a fair assumption, I think), Florida's primaries would have been a tossup between Romney and Newt (46% Romney to 45% Newt). The GOP would have a real two-person race on their hands.

Since Santorum's young daughter was recently in the hospital (she may still be, I'm not sure) and since it's quite obvious to *everyone* that he will not win the nomination, I wonder what he has to gain by staying in the race. I bet by staying in and helping Romney win, he's planning for a position in Romney's Administration or perhaps even serve as his running mate -- Romney will need a social conservative running mate, after all.

The longer Santorum stays in the race, the more I will be convinced that he is in cahoots with Romney to defeat Newt.

[Dulcinea]

15. He wants the VP slot.

He must know he has no chance of winning, so he wants second billing, IMHO.

Santorum is the single creepiest man on earth. He makes my skin crawl.

[ecstatic]

13. I hope he does go to the convention, that would be great

for us!! lol. Especially if Willard ultimately gets the nom. A bitter/divided party. Perfect!