Who you may be saying? Don't you mean McCain? Or maybe Clinton? Sure they have every reason to be happy. For Clinton, she got over 50% after losing badly in South Carolina and so now she can spin some good news. Sure, there were no delegates to be awarded, but the papers all over the country tomorrow, including in all those Super Tuesday states will have headlines saying Hillary won and some people like to go with a winner.
For John McCain, this is the first state he has won that had a closed primary. NH for example, allowed independents and even Dems to vote for McCain, and clearly polls show he does well with Indy's. But this was a purely Republican vote and McCain got 36%. Giuliani, who just dropped out, got 15% and he has now endorsed McCain, and it makes logical sense that the bulk of his voters would be McCain voters, so it is an impressive showing tonight by McCain. Further, FL is a winner take all state for Republican delegates.
So why does the headline say Charlie Crist won. First off, who is he? He is the Republican Governor of Florida and is wildly popular. His first victory is with John McCain. He endorsed John McCain near the end of the race at a time when some public polls were showing Romney pulling ahead.
His second victory, was a major property tax cut initiative that he pushed in today's election. The initiative won 64-36, despite big spending from the teacher's unions against it. Crist had made himself the face of the campaign and it easily exceeded the new 60% requirement for constitutional changes in FL. Finally, he is the Governor of a key state, especially for Republicans, in the November election. Don't be surprised to see him on a McCain ticket if McCain is the nominee, so start learning about him.
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