COMMENTARY | MSNBC reports that Republican candidate Mitt Romney pulled out a decisive victory in the Florida primary on Jan. 31, beating out his rival Newt Gingrich in a 47 percent to 32 percent vote. This was thought to be a very important primary for Romney, where he had the ability to basically seal his fate as the Republican Party nominee for president, and he did just that. Here are three ways that Romney was able to overcome Gingrich during the Florida primary, and retain his status as the frontrunner.
Romney was able to use negative advertisements to show the Florida voters who Gingrich really is, and it proved to be one of the best moves Romney has made so far. Negative advertisements pitted Gingrich as the big government candidate, not concerned with the middle class, and showed Gingrich as part of the progressive establishment. For Romney, it was important he turn to the negative advertisements to get his point across without being too harsh, and he was able to keep the focus on the important issues. By using the negative advertisements, Romney was able to better fend off similar attacks by Gingrich, and it helped him appear as a leader by confronting Gingrich head on.
Romney came into Florida after being beaten up by Gingrich in South Carolina, but he was able to regain his composure. When Romney was beat in South Carolina, it almost humbled Romney, because it showed that there is still a lot of time left, and he is not the given nominee for the Republican Party. Romney was able to overcome the horrible loss in South Carolina, redefine his message, and make his political issues more focused across the board. Romney fought off the loss with composure, by talking about how Gingrich is so similar to President Barack Obama, and talking about how he was the right choice for the Republican Party. Romney also used the loss to focus more on the debates, and learning how to attack Gingrich more during the debates, which helped him gain support in the Florida primary. Without being so tough during the debates in Florida, he most likely would not have won the primary.
Romney was also able to appeal to a wider audience in Florida, which is something that the previous primaries did not offer. In Florida, there is a huge Hispanic population, so he had to tell the Hispanic voters how his stance on issues would impact them. Romney was able to appeal to both the old and young audience, and detail why his policies would be the best for the country, and how his policies would help each age group. Romney was able to gain the votes of more than just the conservatives in Florida, and in fact, he did the best among moderately liberal voters within the state. This proves that Romney has what it takes to appeal to people on a wider scale, since Florida has a little bit of everything, and has a varied demographic.
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Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Brooke Brower, “First Thoughts: Why Florida differed from South Carolina”, MSNBC