Mitt Romney won the state of Florida’s GOP Primary, and we congratulate him – To paraphrase Dr. Ray Stantz in Ghostbusters 2 – “Mr. Romney, you’ll be happy to
know that almost 33% of our staff voted for you in the Primary…”
That being said, as the staff sat around the conference table on Wednesday, we asked each other what the GOP Primary showed us both good and bad – here’s what we came up with…
First, we learned that Romney is not a pushover when he is behind the 8 ball. Coming off of a pretty crummy showing in South Carolina, Romney was determined to make a good showing in Florida and did so. He exercised good strategy in spending a massive amount of money in the more populous areas for advertising. Outspending Gingrich by 5 to 1*, Romney blanketed the airwaves, and his numbers in these areas showed the results.
Second, we learned that Romney can get Florida Republican voters. Well, half of them at least – in the areas where there is a large portion of Republicans of a more moderate demeanor. This worked well for Romney in the Primary, where only Republicans were able to vote. Florida (particularly SOUTH Florida) has had a tremendous upsurge in voters who have switched their party from Republican to Independent. Like much of the country, this switch in Party affiliation is not to demonstrate ‘Centrism’ but instead to voice a lack of confidence in the Republican Party’s Conservativism. While this bodes well for a Republican candidate in the General election, Gingrich and Santorum were much more heavily favored in his group. It should also be noted that despite an increase in membership numbers, the Republican Party is now the 3rd Party in Broward County from a membership perspective. The independents are often members of conservative grassroots organizations such as 9/12 and the Tea Party and their focus is constitutional Conservativism, which is by all indications is to the right of where the bulk of Romney’s platform sits.
Also, we learned that Romney can perform well in a debate. Romney took Gingrich to task during the Florida Debate about th
e negative ads that Newt’s campaign had run. Instead of taking the most expeditious and genteel route, an immediate apology, Gingrich responded with further attack, giving Romney greater latitude. Furthermore, Romney was able to justify the significant attack ad spend as a response to Gingrich’s truculent attitude in the debate. It was a well-played debate by Romney, and may have cost Gingrich all 50 of the Florida Delegates (at least at the time of this writing). Gingrich is normally very strong in a debate, but had an off night, and came under serious attack. We will state for the record that BOTH Romney and Gingrich are entirely too thin skinned in the debates. All of the candidates are politically experienced, and should be beyond this kind of rattling
Finally, we learned that Romney is good on the economy, but will run into difficulties with the Government-provided healthcare issue. Senator Rick Santorum pointed this out in the debate, and it is likely that no matter how many times Romney says he will make the repeal of Obamacare his primary mission; all it will take is Obama demonstrating the similarities between the Massachusetts plan and the Federal Plan to effectively hamstring Romney’s arguments. Romney needs to strengthen his case on this issue.
The primary also showed us that Gingrich can rally Tea Party support, but that he needs a more effective ground team in each of the states. We also learned that establishment Republicans are worried about having Gingrich as the Republican nominee. It can be inferred that this concern is due to his knowledge of the way things work in DC. Bottom line, they won’t be able to pull one over on Gingrich. Gingrich has need of a good, trustworthy, consistent ground team – and it is not too late to have one. If he gets that in the next few weeks then FL becomes a hiccup, rather than an ulcer.
Additionally we learned that Santorum can give a good accounting of himself when he is given the chance, but that unless he is able to canvass the state, his election performance will be curtailed. Santorum has strong convictions, and is, by all acounts, a very ‘nice guy’. Some of the moderate elements of the Republican ‘Big Tent’ have differences of opinion with his personal beliefs, but outside of Florida that group will not be as significant.
The Florida GOP Primary was tough for many of our staff to watch, because every one of the candidates has one or two (or several) supporters on our team. All of the candidates have strengths and despite our internal preferences, we are all committed to supporting the eventual nominee when the National GOP Primary process has been completed. Each of us has our own “favorite” candidate, but we recognize that this election is too important to let our 20% differences derail efforts to turn this country from the dangerous path it is on.
Hopefully all Republicans, both Moderate and Conservative will be able to accomplish that same unification when the dust from the GOP Primary has settled!
Keep Watch!
The clock is counting down to Florida’s Republican Primary election day. With less than 48 hours remaining Former Governor Mitt Romney looked confident and poised as he addressed a crowd of over 2,000 attendees in the heart of downtown Naples, FL.
One of Newt Gingrich’s best events yet was missed by the mainstream media. It wasn’t a big event, and it wasn’t surrounded by fanfare. It didn’t have massive press coverage, and it wasn’t ostentatious, but because he had said he would do it, he did.
A couple of days ago, the Political Watchman published an
to putting the country back on track by getting back to the bedrock of the Constitution. The Grassroots/Tea Party groups present at the event are strong, passionate, patriotic groups, and while they don’t always agree on every point, they stand together in the belief that the country can be saved.
Primary race. Newt Gingrich believes that decision will not be decided by the Mainstream media, or the GOP establishment. He believes that the Grassroots and Tea Party groups reaching out and connecting with Americans across the nation will carry him to the Republican Nomination, and the White House. If Gingrich is right, then every call dialed, every sign made, and every vote cast by the patriots in Grassroots and Tea Party groups made his victory a reality.
Instead of running into the deadfall set up by the media, both Gingrich and Romney h
ad the opportunity to take a higher, nobler road. Gingrich could have taken that road by apologizing for his immigration attack ad on Romney by saying “You know, that ad was probably not in the best of taste, I apologize, Mitt.” then holding out his hand in friendship. Romney instead of saying “I doubt that’s my ad” in reference to his ad attacking Gingrich, could have said “You know, I know that things have been getting intense the farther along in this Primary”. Both Romney and Gingrich would have shown themselves to be the bigger man, and it would have been the “Presidential” thing to do.
that it is less of a fight for Obama.
Obama’s decision to moth ball NASA has left the once active and tourist-friendly Cocoa Beach area reeling under the weight of a stagnate economy. Gingrich’s speech described a vision that lit fires in the eyes of more than a few of the more than 600 attendees.
alanced budget. It can be argued that the former Speaker of the House is aggressive in getting things done, sometimes with conflict, but he does get them done. 
Coral Springs, FL – Speaking to a crowd of more than 1200 South Floridians, Newt Gingrich inspired belief in a return to greatness for the United States –“I stand for American Exceptionalism, not because you and I are exceptional - we’re normal- but because the system we have inherited from the Founding Fathers is the most exceptional system in history.”
It’s a whole new ball game, and Newt Gingrich just impersonated Casey Jones by crushing a home run right over the South Carolina center field wall. The South Carolina Primary is now a matter of history, but it was a victory for Newt Gingrich that will go on far beyond the “Palmetto State”.
he drive thru window of a Chic-fil-a restaurant. 
terests to take a hike if that’s what’s in the best interest of our country” . The question becomes are either of these endorsements going to matter?
he New Hampshire Primary, Romney and Huntsman combined percentage is 56.2% while Gingrich and Perry combined equals 11.1% - which is what we in the political circles like to call “a landslide”. 
