Big win

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s victory in the Florida primary Tuesday is a major step to the Republican nomination.

Florida is a large, populous, complex state that mirrors several of the nation’s problems: It has high unemployment, a struggling economy and a housing foreclosure crisis. Florida is diverse and competitive politically.

Mr. Romney won handily in Florida, gathering 46 percent of the vote to 32 percent for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum managed 13 percent and Texas Rep. Ron Paul won only 7 percent.

About half of the voters in Florida said it was most important to find a candidate who could defeat President Barack Obama in November. Half of GOP voters in the previous primaries said the same thing.

But Mr. Romney gained ground in several areas, particularly among women where his margin was 52-28. That bodes ill for Mr. Gingrich: only half of women voters said they held a favorable view of him, compared to eight in 10 for Mr. Romney.

In a state where unemployment is 10 percent, two of three voters said the economy was their top issue. Half noted that home foreclosures had taken a big toll on their communities. And nine in 10 confessed they were falling behind economically or just keeping up.

Florida had been showered with political ads of all sorts, many of them negative.

Mr. Gingrich faltered badly in Florida shortly after winning a big victory in South Carolina. Yet he and Mr. Santorum will keep running. It is on to the Nevada caucuses on Saturday, followed by caucuses in Colorado, Minnesota and Maine, then primaries in Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona later in the month.

Mitt Romney has established himself as the front-runner and likely GOP standard bearer.