ORLANDO/TAMPA, Florida |
ORLANDO/TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) – Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney held a comfortable double-digit lead in polls over struggling rival Newt Gingrich as Florida’s Republican voters cast ballots on Tuesday in a high-stakes presidential primary election.
Florida is by far the largest state to hold a primary so far this year and a Romney victory would give him a big boost in the state-by-state battle to decide who will face Democratic U.S. President Barack Obama in the November general election.
Gingrich, a former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, was riding high just 10 days ago after an upset win in South Carolina’s primary and led in Florida polls as recently as early last week.
But the well-funded and well-organized Romney took back the lead after two strong debate performances and a blizzard of television advertisements attacking Gingrich.
By Monday, Romney’s support in Florida was at 43 percent versus Gingrich’s 28 percent, according to Reuters/Ipsos online poll data. Former
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