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Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 1/24/2012

A political analyst and former Republican leader says it remains to be seen whether Newt Gingrich can carry the momentum from his big win in South Carolina to success in the next primary stop -- Florida.
In the wake of his primary win in South Carolina, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich surged ahead of Mitt Romney in two Florida GOP presidential polls, and took a razor-thin lead in a recent RealClearPolitics compilation of three Sunshine State preferential polls. Political pundits say Florida could come down to Gingrich's debating prowess versus Romney's organization.

Tom Pauken served on Ronald Reagan's White House staff and later became chairman of the Republican Party of Texas. He says at least one factor favors Romney.

"You've got absentee voters or early voters who have been worked real hard by the Romney campaign -- and many of those votes already are in, and they were in prior to the South Carolina results," he notes. "So that should help Romney."

But Pauken says on the other hand, he believes conservative voters are more engaged in the primary process.

"As long as the conservatives keep turning out and make sure that their delegates [are going] to the national convention, the less the folks pushing this top-down solution," he suggests. "The Republican primary voters are clearly looking for an alternative to Mitt Romney."

Pauken says he is pleased "big money" is not dominating so far this political season -- otherwise, he remarks, Romney would already have the nomination sewn up.

Source: Florida next for GOP runners (OneNewsNow.com)