Florida voters gave John McCain a slender but potentially decisive victory yesterday, making him the clear front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination.
In winning the first 2008 election restricted to registered Republicans, the Arizona senator becomes the favorite in a two-man showdown with Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor's personal wealth and popularity among conservatives give him a chance to rebound next Tuesday, the biggest primary day in history.
Florida was apparently the final stop for Rudolph W. Giuliani, who led in national polls until late fall but managed to pick up only one delegate in the primaries and caucuses.
The former New York mayor sounded a note of finality in his concession speech, and there were reports last night that he would endorse McCain today.
McCain's support from Florida's two leading Republican politicians, particularly its popular governor, were crucial elements in his victory, helping to guide voters in a year in which primary contests have become a blur and voters have less time than ever to make up their minds.
There will likely be new pressure on California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to abandon his neutrality and back McCain, with whom he has campaigned in the past, ahead of next week's primary in the nation's most populous state.
"Our victory might not have reached landslide proportions, but it is sweet nonetheless," McCain said last night, sounding more confident than at any time this primary season.
Looking to next Tuesday, which he called the closest thing yet to a national primary, McCain said: "I intend to win it and be the nominee of our party."
The result was a bitter disappointment for Romney, who outspent McCain by a margin of 3-to-1 and had appeared to be gaining in the final days of the campaign. But the senator fought back, accusing Romney of having wavered last spring in his support for the U.S. military effort in Iraq, a charge that Romney termed desperate and dishonest.
Romney, a former venture capitalist, stuck last night to his theme that his business background makes him better-suited for the presidency than McCain, an argument that failed to sway enough Florida Republicans during an intense, weeklong campaign throughout the state.
He will now try to overtake McCain in a coast-to-coast chase over the next week, when 22 states will hold primaries and caucuses.
