Last night Mitt Romney won the Florida primary by 14 percent, 46/ 32 with Rick Santorum taking 13 percent and Ron Paul 7. The breakdown shows that Gingrich took all but three counties in the panhandle and Romney took all but five counties throughout the rest of the state. From CBS News' county by county page, we see Gingrich took 34 counties and Romney 33 counties.
The Panhandle counties are smaller, less people, tighter communities, which is how Romney can win less counties but still take the state.
According to Tampa Bay Times, if the final delegate totals are close enough and the 50 delegates that Romney won in Florida become all that makes or breaks this GOP race, because Florida changed it's proportional allocation rules to make it a winner-take-all state, "All it takes is a registered Florida Republican to file a protest with the RNC, and the party's contest committee would have to consider the issue when it meets in August just before the convention."
4 down, 46 to go..... Next stop is Nevada with their caucuses being held Saturday, February 4, 2012.
Full GOP primary/caucus schedule HERE.
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