Gop, Florida Primary | featured news

Newt Gingrich is challenging Florida's winner-take-all primary, arguing in a letter that is being sent Thursday that since the state held its primary early that it must award delegates proportionally under existing Republican National Committee policies.

Mitt Romney can argue that winning ugly is still winning, especially in a contest he could not afford to lose. But Romney’s decisive victory in Florida came at a price. He aggravated Newt Gingrich’s hostility to him, with all the trouble that could entail, and left behind a dispirited Republican electorate in a state the GOP needs to win this fall.

Mitt Romney won the Florida presidential primary Tuesday, taking a long stride toward capturing the GOP nomination and dealing a potentially mortal blow to the hopes of the once-resurgent Newt Gingrich.

There is a good bit of confusion about how Florida will award its delegates following today’s primary. So, to clear things up, here’s where we stand: A new Republican National Committee rule says that no state holding its presidential contest before April is allowed to award its delegates to the national convention on a winner-take-all basis.

When Florida violated the Republican National Committee’s rules and moved its primary to Jan. 31, and made the contest winner take-all for delegates, its reasoning was pretty simple. Officials wanted the state to play a prominent role in the primary process.

Mitt Romney opened a double-digit lead over Newt Gingrich in a new poll ahead of Tuesday’s Florida Republican primary, but the Gingrich campaign insisted that the former House speaker is staying in the GOP nomination race for the long haul and remains the only conservative able to beat President Obama in November.

Newt Gingrich today accused front-running Mitt Romney of waging a dishonest campaign, saying the former governor is trying to cover up liberal stances in his past.

Mitt Romney encouraged his supporters to get loud and even storm the gates at Thursday’s debate in Florida, the last nationally televised encounter ahead of a potentially pivotal primary Tuesday.

Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich attack each other ahead of a debate in Florida on Monday, just days after Mr Gingrich's upset in the South Carolina primary. Mr Gingrich's campaign said it received $1m (£643,000) in 24 hours following his primary win in South Carolina.