By Simon Mann
MIAMI: The animosity that marked Florida's Republican primary is set to continue with Newt Gingrich pointedly declining to congratulate winner Mitt Romney, instead rallying supporters with a battle cry that characterised the contests ahead as ''people power'' versus Mr Romney's ''money power''.
Set back by Mr Romney's commanding 14.5 percentage point win in the biggest state to vote so far, the former House Speaker pledged to fight on through all 46 remaining contests.
''We are going to contest every place, and we will win,'' he boldly predicted, describing his candidacy as the party's opportunity ''to nominate a conservative who knows what he is doing, who has done it before''.
Mr Romney's big win exposed stumbling blocks to Mr Gingrich's chances of forging a winning constituency. According to exit polls, women and those voters concerned mostly about the state of the US economy snubbed Mr Gingrich. Married women, in particular, backed Mr Romney over the thrice-married Mr Gingrich 51 per cent to 29 per cent.
"We are going to contest every place, and we will win" ... Republican presidential candidate and former House speaker Newt Gingrich at his Florida primary night party on Tuesday in Orlando, Florida.Credit: Getty Images/AFP
The former Massachusetts governor's win gave him all of Florida's 50 delegates to the party's national convention in August.
He captured 46.4 per cent of the vote in Florida versus Mr Gingrich's 31.9 per cent. Rick Santorum, the former senator from Pennsylvania, was a distant third with 13 per cent, followed by Texas congressman Ron Paul (7 per cent).
Mr Romney's win was built on a TV and radio advertising blitz in which more than 13,000 ads at a cost of $US17 million portrayed Mr Gingrich as unethical and dishonest. Much of the attack was funded by political action committees allied to Mr Romney, sparking bitter resentment within the Gingrich camp which was outgunned by a ratio of five to one.
Mr Gingrich had accused the Romney camp of ''carpet-bombing'' the state with ads that media analysts judged as negative in 92 per cent of cases. But Mr Romney explained the blitz as fighting fire with fire, after the Gingrich camp had attacked hard - and successfully - in last month's South Carolina primary.
Mr Romney, with his wife of 42 years, Ann, and four of his five adult sons sharing the victory stage with him, refrained from continuing the assault against the vanquished Mr Gingrich, instead training his rhetoric on President Barack Obama, whom he hopes to challenge in November's general election. He said his leadership would ''end the Obama era and start a new era of American prosperity''.
He attacked his economic policy, and promised to maintain a military ''so powerful that no one would ever think of challenging it'', in contrast to what he described as Mr Obama's policy of ''appeasement and apology''.
He laid claim to being a successful businessman who ''saved'' the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics from scandal, and a driven administrator who had cut taxes 19 times in Massachusetts.
But Florida voters overall may not be quite so ready to dump Mr Obama, who won the state in 2008 with 50.9 per cent of the vote against John McCain's 48.4 per cent. An NBC opinion poll this week put him ahead of Mr Romney 49:41 and of Mr Gingrich 52:35, although the President's approval rating in the swing state matches his disapproval rating at 46 per cent.
Fewer than 2 million of Florida's 3.8 million registered Republicans voted in Tuesday's primary. Mr Romney's win took his nominal delegate tally to 84 followed by Mr Gingrich with 27, Dr Paul (10) and Mr Santorum (eight). A tally of 1144 delegates is needed to claim the nomination.