Romney takes poll lead in Florida

Feb 1 2012

Mitt Romney has jumped to a commanding lead in the Florida primary, as he reached for a resounding victory that would make him the clear front-runner in the race to pick a Republican challenger to President Barack Obama.

A win in Florida, by far the largest of the first four nominating contests, would allow Mr Romney to recover the political momentum he had lost after main rival Newt Gingrich's victory in the January 21 South Carolina primary.

It would also give Mr Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, all 50 of Florida's delegates to the Republican National Convention in late August in Tampa, Florida. A candidate will need 1,144 delegates to become the nominee.

Returns from 34% of the state's precincts showed Mr Romney with 48% of the vote, to Mr Gingrich's 31%.

Mr Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, has vowed to fight on until the convention regardless of Tuesday's vote. He says the race is far from over.

However he would have a tough time recovering from a loss. Mr Romney has a huge advantage in money and organisation and the pace of the campaign will slow in February and the few contests include those in Michigan and Nevada, states where Mr Romney is heavily favoured.

Two other candidates, former senator Rick Santorum and congressman Ron Paul, remain in the race, but they have conceded Florida to their rivals and remain longshots for the nomination. The Florida returns showed Mr Santorum with 13% and Mr Paul 7%.

Mr Romney has been the frontrunner for most of the Republican campaign even as a series of challengers have soared in the polls, only to quickly fade. A former venture capitalist, Mr Romney has touted his business experience as he casts himself as the candidate most likely to defeat Mr Obama in an election in which jobs and the economy are the big issues.

He narrowly lost the first contest, the Iowa caucuses, to Mr Santorum in a race so close that he was initially declared the winner. He then easily won in New Hampshire.

However Mr Gingrich countered with the upset victory in South Carolina, winning over conservatives who saw Mr Romney as too moderate. Mr Gingrich's fiery attacks on Obama and America's media "elite" struck a chord with the state's conservative electorate, even as much of the Republican establishment worried he was too erratic to become the party's nominee.