Opinion: Florida primary: How Mitt Romney won

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No doubt about it: Mitt Romney’s 14-point victory in Florida’s Republican presidential primary election on Tuesday was impressive.

Not only did it come by a convincing margin, it came in the biggest, most diverse and most important state. And Romney won after what may have been the most punishing two weeks of his political career -- a period during which he was hit by charges of “vulture capitalism,” forced to release income tax returns and reveal investment accounts in the Cayman Islands, and lost a primary election in South Carolina to Newt Gingrich.

How did Romney win on Tuesday? The old-fashioned way: negative advertising. Against an extravagantly vulnerable opponent like Gingrich, it’s hard to blame him.

The next phase in the GOP race is what you might call the “Pressure Primary”: Romney and his backers will push Gingrich to give up for the good of the party. Never mind what Romney said on Tuesday night about tough campaigns being good practice; no politician enjoys a campaign as bitter as this one.

But Gingrich isn’t likely to quit now, even though Romney can continue to outspend him. The former House speaker is 68 years old; this is his last plausible shot at a presidential campaign. Besides, Gingrich is right: This campaign has only visited four states so far. As the signs at his election night rally in Orlando proclaimed, there are still “46 states to go.”

The next few states -- Nevada, Maine, Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, Arizona and Michigan -- look mostly like Romney country. (Gingrich isn’t even on the ballot in Missouri.) But that doesn’t matter; Gingrich and his aides say they are looking to Super Tuesday on March 6, and even beyond. “We’re going to contest every place, and we’re going to win,” Gingrich promised.

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--Doyle McManus