Don’t know if you find political geography as fascinating as I do, but it’s worth a look at exactly where Mitt Romney won his solid victory in Florida yesterday.
A list of the counties where Mitt took 50% or more of the vote is very revealing: Miami-Dade, Broward (Ft. Lauderdale), Palm Beach, Martin (Stuart), Indian River (Vero Beach), Sumter (The Villages), Sarasota, and Collier (Naples). He came close to a majority in Hillsborough (Tampa), Pinellas (St. Petersburg) and Orange (Orlando).
So Romney Country was basically urban South and Central Florida. Mitt’s banner showing of 61% in Miami-Dade was definitely a testament to the clout of the Cuban-American pols (notably the Diaz-Balart brothers and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen) who not only gave him endorsements but actually turned out the vote.
Meanwhile, Gingrich was able to hold Romney’s statewide margin down by running slightly ahead of Mitt in NE Florida and the Panhandle. Basically, the more a county resembled GA or AL, the more likely it was that Newt would win, and that, of course, will be part of his rationale for continuing on, at least to states where Crackro-Americans dominate.
UPDATE: Since it came up in the comment thread, yes indeedy, I am a proud “Crackro-American” (the term was, I believe, coined by Georgia journalist Roy Blount Jr. back in the day), and certainly did not intend to offend myself.
UPDATE II: Another thing that came up in the comment thread was my use of the term “Selah” as a sign-off for my day’s end posts. Wordcruncher is exactly right: I stole the practice from long-time Atlanta Journal-Constitution sports editor Furman Bisher (the aforementioned Roy Blount, Jr., also got his start at the same place). But Bisher and I both got “Selah” from the Bible, particularly the Psalms, where it is often used in a manner similar to “Amen.”
