Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney scored a resounding victory in the Florida Republican Presidential primary on Tuesday and can now cement his role as the front-runner of the GOP field.
With exit polls from the Sunshine State showing that Romney did well even among Conservative Republicans, he can also hope to put aside the narrative his rivals have sought to exploit - that Romney is too moderate for the Republican Party.
Florida's results will not likely be the final word in the GOP presidential nomination contest, as Romney has won only a fraction of the delegates needed to clinch the victory, but any doubts about his primacy have now largely been erased.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who came in a distant second in Florida, will now face even greater challenges in his efforts to convince the GOP that he is the best candidate to take on President Barack Obama in the fall.
Gingrich rode two strong debate performances to victory in the South Carolina primary, handily beating Romney, but stumbled in debates before Florida.
Such uneven performances - in both the debates and at the polling booth - will prove a challenge to Gingrich in seeking to win greater support and the financial backing he will need to mount an extended campaign against Romney.
But one cannot count the former Speaker completely out after having seen the force of his personality drive him to recover from previous falls.
If Gingrich can remain competitive in the relatively small contests - Nevada, Colorado, Minnesota, Maine, Arizona and Michigan - that come before the March 6th "Super Tuesday," he can still potentially make the case that he can win the nomination.
But here Gingrich faces several large hurdles. His plan to run an "idea driven" campaign, eschewing the traditional trappings of a presidential primary bid, caused a mass resignation of his senior staff earlier in the contest.
That organizational deficit, combined with fundraising that has consistently fallen short of Romney's, puts Gingrich at a distinct disadvantage.
Fortunately for Gingrich, Romney has shown signs even today of making the kinds of stumbles that could cost him the nomination.
In remarks Wednesday, Romney said that he was not concerned about the "very poor" - a comment that could cost him some of the populist sentiment of "Tea Party" activists that will likely prove critical in the GOP nomination process.
If Gingrich and his "Super PAC" allies are able to portray Romney as an out-of-touch elitist - a line very likely to be repeated by Democrats in the fall should Romney win the nomination - the former Speaker might yet overcome the high hurdles he faces in claiming the chance to face Obama.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.