Florida Primary, a Romslide: Mitt Romney Rolls in the Sunshine State, Wins Big … Romney 46%, Newt 32%, Santorum 13%, Paul 7%

Mitt Romney wins big in Florida …

After all the debates, after all the ads, it was not even close.  With nearly 100% of the votes in, Mitt Romney wins in a landslide with 46% of the vote, Newt Gingrich second with 32%, Rick Santorum third with 13% and Ron Paul fourth with 7%. Romney gained a greater percentage of the vote than even the polls predicted.

It was an emphatic comeback for the former Massachusetts governor, who successfully fended off a major threat from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga).

With 74 percent of precincts reporting, Romney led Gingrich 47 percent to 32 percent. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum came in third with 13 percent and Texas Rep. Ron Paul was last with 7 percent.

Exit polls showed the factors that most Florida voters used to make their decision clearly favored Romney.

Voting by county can be seen HERE.

The primary battle moves on to Nevada and Michigan, both Romney territory. Some have questioned the nastiness of the tone that the GOP primary has become; however, Mitt Romney took a different perspective on the negative campaigning during his victory speech tonight.

Welcomed to the stage at his election-night party in Tampa by his wife, Ann Romney, the former Massachusetts governor said he had news for those in the Democratic Party who hoped a hard-fought primary would leave the eventual nominee too weak to win in November.

“I’ve got news for them: A competitive primary does not divide us, it prepares us, and we will win,” Romney said. “When we gather back here in Tampa seven months from now for our convention, ours will be a united party with a winning ticket for America.”

However, if Romney continues to win primaries, Newt Gingrich is going to have to bow out for the good of the party and unity. Although Newt pledges a drawn out primary battle. Really Newt? You are so quick to tell Santorum to leave the race, yet if you get beat in primary after primary, you with stay in the race. Who does that benefit but Obama? At some point if it comes to a continued primary thumping like Gingrich suffered this evening, he is going to have to act like a statesman and for the for the good of the Republican party end his Presidential run and endorse the GOP nominee. A continue drawn out primary is a mistake.Newt, you might want to think of country first and not yourself, it that is possible.

But the former House speaker is vowing a drawn-out battle for delegates as the Republican race turns next to Nevada, and then a batch of primaries in western and midwestern states. Gingrich said at his Florida rally that the latest primary showed the election has come down to a “two-person race” between him and the “Massachusetts moderate.”

As supporters waved signs emblazoned with the words, “46 States To Go,” Gingrich declared he plans to defeat “money power” with “people power” in the coming months — casting his campaign as a counterbalance to the “establishment.”

Good grief Newt, how about some cheese with that “whine”? I am no avid Romney supporter but dude … you lost and lost badly. Your complaining about negative, false ads is pathetic. What do you think that Barack Obama is going to do with $1 billion and a MSM who is in the tank for him? And also no congrats to Romney for the win in Florida. Newt may be the greater conservative, but that thin skin is hardly a positive.

Hat Tip: Hot Air

It is pretty obvious that Romney will win Nevada as it has a huge Mormon population. Romney won the 2008 Nevada caucus with over 51% of the vote. It would be a huge upset if Mitt did not do the same in 2012.