Romney carries state by 14; weak in NE Florida

Mitt Romney routed Newt Gingrich in the Florida primary Tuesday night, rebounding smartly from an earlier defeat and taking a major step toward the Republican presidential nomination. Despite the one-sided setback, the former House speaker vowed to press on.

Romney, talking unity like a nominee, said he was ready "to lead this party and our nation" -- and turn Democratic President Barack Obama out of office. In remarks to cheering supporters, the former Massachusetts governor unleashed a strong attack on Obama and said the competitive fight for the GOP nomination "does not divide us, it prepares us" for the fall.

"Mr. President, you were elected to lead, you chose to follow, and now it's time to get out of the way, he declared.

Returns from 79 percent of Florida's precincts showed Romney with 47 percent of the vote, to 32 percent for Gingrich.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum had 13 percent, and Texas Rep. Ron Paul 7 percent. Neither mounted a substantial effort in the state.

Romney's victory was far less decisive in Northeast Florida, where he narrowly carried Duval County and came in second in nine other counties. [How Northeast Florida counties voted]

"When you look at 2008, Romney carried Duval in a high percentage,  It being close -- less than 2 percent -- it's a little surprising," Duval County Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland said Tuesday night. 

The winner-take-all primary was worth 50 Republican National Convention delegates, by far the most of any primary state so far.

But the bigger prize was precious political momentum in the race to pick an opponent for Obama in a nation struggling to recover from the deepest recession in decades.

"I think the momentum really begins," Florida Sen. Marco Rubio told Channel 4's Kent Justice. "The other primaries will be driven by dollars. Dollars follow momentum, so I think it’s Gov. Rromney’s night tonight."

For the first time in the campaign, exit polls showed a gender gap in Romney's favor. He ran far better among women than Gingrich, winning just over half of their votes, to three in 10 for his rival.

Only about half of the women voters said they had a favorable view of the thrice-married Gingrich as a person, while about eight in 10 had a positive opinion of Romney.

As in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, about half of Florida primary voters said the most important factor for them was backing a candidate who can defeat Obama in November, according to early exit poll results conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks.

Not surprisingly, in a state with an unemployment rate hovering around 10 percent, about two-thirds of voters said the economy was their top issue. More than eight in 10 said they were falling behind or just keeping up. And half said that home foreclosures have been a major problem in their communities.

"They leave Florida with a full head of steam, and proven the ability to organize in a large, diverse state," Florida GOP Chairman Lenny Curry said.

Gingrich, from neighboring Georgia, swept into Florida from South Carolina, only to run headlong into a different Romney from the one he had left in his wake in South Carolina.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, shed his reluctance to attack Gingrich, the former House speaker, unleashing hard-hitting ads on television, sharpening his performance in a pair of debates and deploying surrogates to the edges of Gingrich's own campaign appearances, all in hopes of unnerving him.

Restore our Future, an outside group supporting Romney, accounted for about $8.8 million in the ad wars, and the candidate and the "super PAC" combined outspent Gingrich and Winning The Future, the organization backing him, by about $15.5 million to $3.3 million, an advantage of nearly 5-1.

Gingrich responded by assailing Romney as a man incapable of telling the truth and vowed to remain in the race until the Republican National Convention next summer. He won the endorsement of campaign dropout Herman Cain and increasingly sought the support of evangelicals and tea party advocates, a former House speaker running as the anti-establishment insurgent of the party he once helped lead.

Bombarded by harsh television advertising, some Floridians said they had soured on both candidates.