Mitt Romney won a commanding victory in the Florida primary tonight, rebounding from defeat a week earlier and taking a major step toward the Republican presidential nomination.
Despite the one-sided result, Newt Gingrich vowed to press on.
“Thank you FL!” an exuberant Romney tweeted minutes after the race was called. “While we celebrate this victory, we must not forget what this election is really about: defeating Barack Obama.”
Returns from slightly more than half of Florida’s precincts showed Romney with 47 percent of the vote, to 33 percent for Gingrich.
Romney, talking unity like a nominee, said he was ready “to lead this party and our nation” — and defeat Obama. In remarks to cheering supporters, Romney 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,” Romney declared tonight.
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum had 13 percent, and Texas Rep. Ron Paul 7 percent. Neither mounted a substantial effort in the state.
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 Democratic President Barack Obama this fall
That belonged to Romney when he captured the New Hampshire primary three weeks ago, then swung stunningly to Gingrich when he countered with a South Carolina upset 11 days later.
Now it was back with the former Massachusetts governor, after a 10-day comeback that marked a change to more aggressive tactics, coupled with an efficient use of an overwhelming financial advantage.
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