Huffpost Politics The Blog   Chris Weigant Headshot  Predicting
Florida: Newt's Petard  Posted: Updated:  As we wend our way
through the Republican primary season, at times predicting the
outcome of a single state's race is very hard to do. At other
times, it is actually pretty easy. Florida looks to be one of
the latter.  One short week ago, the Florida political landscape
was decidedly different. Newt Gingrich was riding a big wave of
momentum from his overwhelming victory in South Carolina, and
Mitt Romney appeared to be on the ropes. Two debates were
scheduled, which was seen as helpful to Newt, since debating is
supposedly his strong point.  What a difference a single week
can make, though! Mitt turned in two debate performances that
were feistier than anything we've seen yet, and Newt was the one
getting pummeled on the ropes. The best description I've heard
yet of what happened is: "When you punch a bully, he doesn't
know what to do -- it confounds him." That was Newt -- getting
verbally punched, and l