Mitt Romney won a broad, deep, and decisive victory in the Florida Republican primary last night; a victory that casts serious doubts on the rationales of every other candidates’ (but Ron Paul’s) continued participation in the race.
Romney won more votes last night (771,842) than John McCain did four years ago (701,761). His 46 percent of the vote was greater than Newt Gingrich’s 32 percent and Rick Santorum’s 13 percent, combined. He won among whites, Latinos, every age group, every education group, and every income group. He won among men. He won among women. He won married voters. He won single voters. The only groups he lost were “strong supporters” of the Tea Party (45 percent to 33 percent) and “White Evangelical/Born Again” Christians (38 percent to 36 percent). Even then, Romney did win soft Tea Party supporters 50 percent to 28 percent.
Florida Republicans are strong conservatives. They picked Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., over moderate Charlie Christ. They elected Tea Party favorite Rick Scott governor. Romney’s wide margin of victory shows he has broad enough appeal to unite conservatives.
Looking ahead to the general election, The Washington Examiner‘s Michael Barone writes: “The 14 counties where Romney ran farther ahead of his 2008 showing than the statewide average cast 49% of the total votes in the 2008 Republican presidential primary. These are also counties where Republicans lost House district races, or came close to losing them, in 2006 and 2008. Romney’s gains in these mostly heavily populated metropolitan counties suggests that he has an appeal to voters among whom Republicans have been doing poorly since the middle 1990s—relatively affluent people in very large metropolitan areas. They suggest that he is a stronger general election candidate in such areas than Bob Dole in 1996, George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004 and John McCain in 2008.”
Campaign 2012
Gingrich: The Washington Examiner‘s Michael Barone predicts that Newt Gingrich “pumped up by anger,” may just follow through with his threat to continue his campaign all the way through to the convention.
Romney: The Washington Examiner‘s Byron York reports on the Romney-machine that trounced Newt Gingrich in Florida: “Organizationally, Romney’s forces simply overwhelmed Gingrich in the nation’s fourth-largest state. Romney had concentrated on getting supporters to vote early and by absentee ballot so that he could bank a large percentage of the votes he would need to win ahead of time. It worked; more than 600,000 people voted early or absentee, and Romney appears to have won big among them.”
Nevada: The Wall Street Journal reports that Mitt Romney and Ron Paul “were the top two finishers in Nevada in the party’s 2008 presidential primary, and both have maintained their ties to the state and their campaign organizations.” This will make it very hard for Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum to finish well in the state.
Super PACs: American Crossroads, the Super PAC founded with the help of GOP political guru Karl Rove, reported raising $51 million in 2011 with a goal of raising about $200 million more by November. A group of Democratic Super PACs announced they raised $19 million combined in 2011.
Around the Bigs
The Washington Examiner, Budget deficit $1 trillion for 4th straight year: The Congressional Budget Office released its annual Budget and Economic Outlook yesterday, showing that for the fourth straight year the federal budget will run a deficit of at least $1 trillion.
USA Today, Obama won’t come close on pledge to halve deficit, CBO says: The USA Today notes that the new CBO report shows Obama will fail to meet his February 2009 promise to reduce the deficit in half by the end of his first term.
The Wall Street Journal, Obama Seeks Refinancing Aid to Lift Housing: President Obama will propose a $1o billion mortgage refinancing plan funded by a new tax on banks today.
The Los Angeles Times, California needs to find $3 billion by March: The California Controller informed the legislature yesterday that lower than expected tax revenues and higher than expected spending will leave the state $3 billion short this year. The state is expected to run out of money this March.
San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland teen charged as adult in parents’ slayings: A 15-year-old boy has been accused of strangling his adoptive parents and stuffing their bodies into a car after arguing with them over his participation in Occupy Oakland protests.
Righty Playbook
CNS News‘ Terence Jeffrey notes that according to the CBO’s Budget Outlook released yesterday, taxes are set to rise by 31% in 2012.
The Washington Examiner‘s Phil Klein notes that the CBO Budget Outlook shows Obamacare will double federal health care spending from $847 billion, or 5.5 percent of GDP, in 2012, to $1.8 trillion, or 7.3 percent of GDP, by 2022.
The Corner‘s Robert Costa reports that Grover Norquist is advising Mitt Romney to embrace the House Republican tax reform plan.
Lefty Playbook
The Washington Post‘s Ezra Klein says we should only blame Obama for $983 billion of the $4.7 trillion that has been added to the deficit since he was sworn into office.
Slate‘s Matt Yglesias says Congress should balance the budget by allowing taxes to go up by 31 percent and doctor payments to be cut by 27 percent.
Daily Kos‘ Kaili Joy Gray laments the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation’s decision to end their relationship with abortion provider Planned Parenthood.
