Nevada, a different state than
Florida in many ways, yet the issues and outcome were the same last night:
New York Times: ". . . Mr. Romney was hoping that a strong victory in Nevada, four days after a commanding finish in the Florida primary, would strengthen his hand among Republicans who remain skeptical of his candidacy and his conservative foundation. And there were some encouraging signs for him in polls of Nevadans entering caucus sites on Saturday, conducted by Edison Research for the National Election Pool of television networks and The Associated Press.
He won with a broad coalition of voters that included groups that he has struggled with in previous contests, including very conservative voters, strong Tea Party supporters and evangelical Christians. The state has the largest share of voters who call themselves strong Tea Party supporters of any of the states that have participated in the Republican nominating contest so far. These voters are considered a vital part of Mr. Gingrich's coalition, yet
Mr. Romney won a higher percentage of them than did Mr. Gingrich, according to the entrance poll. More than 4 in 10 of the caucusgoers surveyed on Saturday said
the quality that mattered most to them in a candidate was his ability to beat Mr. Obama in the fall; nearly three-quarters of those voters said they backed Mr. Romney. The
top issue on the minds of caucusgoers on Saturday was the economy, and
6 in 10 of those who listed it as their leading concern voted for Mr. Romney, potentially bolstering him in his argument that his experience as a businessman makes him the best candidate to improve the employment rate quickly. . . ."
I would also note that Romney is overwhelmingly winning women voters--reportedly 60% of women voters in Nevada voted for Romney.
Gingrich is having a hard time facing the truth. His "news conference" was a sad commentary on a "has-been" politician on his way to becoming a vindictive, bitter old man. If he's half the politician and "historian" he claims to be, he ought to take a long, sober look at the results in Florida and Nevada.
