Hammer blow for Gingrich as Romney takes Florida, Nevada... and Trump

Associated Press delegate count (after seven states)
1 Mitt Romney 107
2 Rick Santorum 45
3 Newt Gingrich 32
4 Ron Paul 9 

Nevada caucuses (Sat 4 Feb)
1 Mitt Romney 16,486 (50.1%)
2 Newt Gingrich 6,956 (21.1%)
3 Ron Paul 6,175 (18.8%)
4 Rick Santorum 3,277 (10%)

Florida primary (Wed 31 Jan)
1 Mitt Romney 775,014 (46.4%)
2 Newt Gingrich 533,117 (31.9%)
3 Rick Santorum 222,799 (13.3%)
4 Ron Paul 117,104 (7%)

PRESIDENTIAL hopeful Mitt Romney wrestled back the advantage in the Republican nomination process after it took yet another twist in Florida and Nevada.

The former Massachusetts governor headed into the Florida contest under pressure after his main rival Newt Gingrich had enjoyed a convincing win in the South Carolina primary.

But Mr Romney has turned the tables once more with two big wins of his own.

First, in the Sunshine State, he beat Mr Gingrich by 46.4% to 31.9%, with the other remaining candidates - Rick Santorum and Ron Paul - trailing back in third and fourth place.

And, at the weekend in Nevada, the final result puts Mr Romney on 50.1%, a massive 29% ahead of Mr Gingrich (21.1%). This time, Mr Paul (18.8%) beat Mr Santorum (10%) in the battle of the backmarkers.

It was not just at the ballot box, though, that Mr Romney has embarrassed the Gingrich team over the past week.

Much political capital was being made by the former House Speaker's campaigners of an expected endorsement from property mogul and Apprentice presenter Donald Trump.

So, imagine their surprise when Mr Trump instead turned up alongside Mr Romney in the run-up to the Nevada vote.

It really was a bitter blow for Mr Gingrich whose media relations are already at a low ebb after coverage of his extra-marital affairs left him exposed to criticism over his astounding hypocrisy.

Meanwhile, this latest episode meant he had a whole lot of explaining to do to the likes of Associated Press, CNN and the New York Times who had all reported with misplaced confidence that Mr Trump would back Mr Gingrich.

Nevertheless, it is hard to tell just how big a factor the Trump endorsement will be for Mr Romney in the long run.

After all, Mr Trump is the American equivalent of Marmite. In fact, he is probably more hated than loved - and, indeed, he is a rather strange bed-fellow for a presidential candidate considering his catchphrase is 'You're fired!'

In the short term, though, the Trump endorsement was mightily symbolic for the way that it showed this contest swinging back in the favour of Mr Romney. It also neatly distracted attention from yet another gaffe from the well-backed front-runner.

Mr Romney, who has previously come under fire for the amount of tax which he pays, is seen by many voters as aloof and out-of-touch with the average American, and this is the case even among Republicans.

In light of this, it was probably not the best idea then for the multi-millionaire Mr Romney to state he was "not concerned about the very poor".

Worse still, he made the comments on the day that incumbent president Barack Obama could bask in the glow of the improving unemployment figures which have followed hard on the back of better-than-expected growth.

It is perhaps not a surprise, then, that support is slowly ebbing back towards the Democrat with a poll putting him on an approval rating of more than 50% for the first time since Osama bin Laden was killed last May.

By contrast, even Republicans are struggling to warm to Mr Romney - although the next three caucuses from 7-11 February look set to provide him with yet more momentum.

For, moving on from Nevada, this contest heads to Minnesota, Colorado and Maine, before two primaries in Arizona and Michigan at the end of the month.

Mr Santorum is expected to challenge Mr Romney in Minnesota but the best that Mr Gingrich can hope for is to emerge from February relatively unscathed.

Achieving that would take Mr Gingrich into Super Tuesday on 6 March when no fewer than 10 states will make their nomination.

But it might be that 6 March will not just have to be super for Mr Gingrich. By then, it may need to be extraordinary.

2012 PRIMARY/CAUCUS SCHEDULE
KEY DATES
3 January Iowa (caucus) - Rick Santorum 

10 January New Hampshire (primary) - Mitt Romney

21 January South Carolina (primary) - Newt Gingrich
31 January Florida (primary) - MR

4 February Nevada (caucus) - MR
7 February Colorado (caucus) - RS, Minnesota (caucus) - RS
11 February Maine (caucus) - MR

28 February Arizona (primary) - MR, Michigan (primary) - MR

3 March Washington (caucus)
6 March: Super Tuesday Alaska (caucus), Georgia (primary), Idaho (caucus), Massachusetts (primary), North Dakota (caucus), Ohio (primary), Oklahoma (primary), Tennessee (primary), Vermont (primary), Virginia (primary)
6-10 March Wyoming (caucus)
10 March Kansas (caucus), US Virgin Islands (caucus)
13 March Alabama (primary), Hawaii (caucus), Mississippi (primary)
17 March Missouri (caucus)
20 March Illinois (primary)
24 March Louisiana (primary)

3 April District of Columbia (primary), Maryland (primary), Wisconsin (primary), Texas (primary)
24 April Connecticut (primary), Delaware (primary), New York (primary), Pennsylvania (primary), Rhode Island (primary)

8 May Indiana (primary), North Carolina (primary), West Virginia (primary)
15 May Nebraska (primary), Oregon (primary)
22 May Arkansas (primary), Kentucky (primary)

5 June Californa (primary), Montana (primary), New Jersey (primary), New Mexico (primary), South Dakota (primary)
26 June Utah (primary)

27-30 August REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION Tampa, Florida
3-6 September DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION Charlotte, North Carolina