Florida Results Disappoint but Strong Performance at Debate Helps

Florida was Romney's chance to surge ahead of McCain in terms of number of delegates earned. A win in the Sunshine State on Tuesday (Jan. 28) would have undoubtedly aided Romney in securing the presidential nomination but that chance didn't come for him. McCain beat him slightly by scoring 36 percent of the Floridian vote. Romney came in a close second with 31 percent of the vote.

At this point in the primary elections, it seems that the Republican nomination has come down to a race between Romney and McCain. In initial primaries, the GOP was struggling to identify a candidate or two who could truly represent the party. Florida signified a possible emergence of two potential presidents. Huckabee lost noticeably in Florida, earning only 13 percent of the vote. He's still in the race but it seems that his support is dwindling. Giuliani dropped out of the race on Wednesday (Jan. 30). After spending all of his time and money to campaign in Florida, Giuliani was still well behind McCain and Romney with only 15 percent of Tuesday's vote. He realized his time had come and bowed out of the race. And in the Republican Debate on Wednesday (Jan. 30), Huckabee and Paul (wait, he's still in the race?) were definitely left out of most of the night's conversation as tension heated between Romney and McCain.

Giuliani's declaration of support for McCain came as another blow to Romney supporters. His endorsement was announced a few hours before the Republican Debate on Wednesday. Giuliani's withdrawal from the race doesn't come to much of a surprise to voters but speculation has arisen over whether or not he may now try to join McCain as his Vice-President if the Arizona senator secures the nomination. This leaves voters also wondering what, if anything, is in store for Romney.

But Romney remains positive, which is a positive testament to his character. After the election on Tuesday, he rallied support from conservative voters, asking them to stand by him on Super Tuesday (Feb. 5). He delivered a personal address littered with anecdotes in an attempt to establish himself as a friend to his supporters. Romney reminded voters of all that he was willing to do to protect them and to initiate change in Washington.



Romney has held on to his "outsider" tactic by encouraging voters to support him since he has yet to work in our nation's capital, a point that he thinks sets him apart from other candidates. He pits himself against McCain by pointing out that the Arizona senator has spent much of his time in partisan Washington; conversely, Romney never served in Congress, which he believes gives him a fresher perspective on how to rid the capital of corruption and political selfishness. In his post-Florida speech, Romney encouraged voters to stand by him in order to elect to the White House a candidate with a new point of view that was never tainted by Washington-style old politics.

The Republican Debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, CA, gave Romney an opportunity to make his point directly to McCain's face--and to thousands of television viewers and potential voters. During the debate, each candidate had his moment of making good points but Romney was particularly eloquent and composed. Though McCain was able to respond to Romney's digs in a dignified manner, he often seemed clumsy and contrived in his answers. Romney presented a Republican platform that most members of the GOP can relate to while pointing out that some of McCain's ideas push him outside of the conservative mainstream, alienating him from some voters.

Super Tuesday will host 21 GOP contests on the ballot, with a total of 1,023 delegates at stake. Romney believes that even though he suffered a loss in Florida, the contest illustrated that he's capable of earning a significant number of votes from extremely conservative Republican constituents. Claiming that "Washington is fundamentally broken," Romney hopes to secure the support of voters who will help him fix our nation's capital.