Word: florida
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...Hampshire, critics proclaimed McCain too moderate to win over enough religious conservatives in South Carolina. After his victory there, critics insisted that Romney's millions, superior get-out-the-vote effort, and command of economic issues would erase the slim lead McCain had eked out in Florida. The day after Tuesday's convincing win, McCain's enemies will surely be looking for new ways to frame these same familiar complaints. But a look at the exit polls suggests that many of the assumptions that made McCain's candidacy look shaky from afar have dissolved in the heat of a competitive...
...Romney's private-sector experience, McCain's almost quaint message of fiscal conservatism - he repeats the line "If only we could cut spending" to the point of parody - resonated among the many voters who were looking for answers to Florida's economic slump. Fifty percent of those who turned out Tuesday said that the economy was their most important issue, and McCain won those voters by 38% to 35%. Explains Steve Schmidt, a senior McCain adviser, "People understand the difference between a very good salesman and a commander in chief...
...Indeed, Romney outspent McCain in Florida on the order of eight to one. But he still lost, which is an encouraging sign for McCain. What's more, the money should now start rolling in to a McCain campaign that almost ended last summer over concerns about lackluster fund raising and overconfident spending. After months of forced modesty - in both hotel accommodations and attitude - McCain supporters are grinning again. "Rats are starting to leave multiple sinking ships," says one McCain fund raiser. "And all that money on the sidelines, who were just looking for an excuse to stay out. they...
...candidacy sputtered. His narrow loss Tuesday to John McCain in Florida was just the latest in a series of disappointments that began in Iowa and New Hampshire, two states where he had outspent his rivals and once led in the polls. His failures have many causes, which will be raked over by historians. But they also suggest a broader shift: Romney may be running to lead a Republican Party that no longer exists...
...Downstairs, in the theater's press filing room, Al Cardenas, a Washington lobbyist who chaired Romney's Florida campaign, continued in the same frame of reference. "We think that the conservative movement activists are now beginning to panic about losing their grip on the Republican Party," Cardenas said. "They better start working hard, and they have told us they are going to have to start working hard...