Initial Thoughts on the Florida GOP Primary

John McCain gets the big win in Florida that he so desperately needed. McCain is now the clear frontrunner and is in a commanding position to secure the nomination. The race is now McCain's to lose. In the vernacular of his campaign, he might well be "unstoppable" at this point. However, he will have to wait until next week to see if he can become the presumptive nominee. Rudy Giuliani, who staked his entire campaign on Florida and came in a distant third, will drop out later today and endorse McCain.

For Mitt Romney, it was a disappointing loss, but he still has plenty of his own money to go on and compete on Super Tuesday. He will likely go into delegate acquisition mode, campaigning and running ads in every state holding a contest that day except for winner-take-all states that he feels he cannot win.

Mike Huckabee will stay around to see how many delegates he can gain by winning or performing well in the following Super Tuesday states: Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Minnesota, North Dakota, West Virginia, and Alaska. He will also compete in various congressional districts of California, especially those that are more socially conservative.   

Tomorrow I will offer my complete analysis of the results and where I think the race is likely headed.