McCain beats Romney in Florida; Giuliani may be exiting

Published 7:07 pm Tuesday, January 29, 2008

MIAMI — Sen. John McCain won a breakthrough triumph in the Florida primary Tuesday night, gaining the upper hand in the battle for the Republican presidential nomination ahead of next week’s contests across 23 states. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani appeared ready to quit the race.

“It shows one thing. I’m the conservative leader who can unite the party,” McCain said. “It’s a very significant boost, but I think we’ve got a tough week ahead and a lot of states to come.”

The victory was worth 57 national convention delegates for McCain, a winner-take-all haul that catapulted him ahead of Romney for the overall delegate lead.

Giuliani ran third, with 15 percent of the vote, his best showing of the campaign but not nearly good enough for the one-time front-runner who decided to make his last stand in a state that is home to tens of thousands of transplanted New Yorkers.

In remarks to supporters in Orlando, he referred to his candidacy repeatedly in the past tense — as though it was over. “We’ll stay involved and together we’ll make sure that we’ll do everything we can to hand our nation off to the next generation better than it was before,” he said.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee trailed close behind with 14 percent, but told supporters he would campaign on. Texas Rep. Ron Paul was fifth, and last.

Romney, who has spent millions of dollars of his personal fortune to run for the White House, also vowed to stay in the race. He took 31 percent of the vote Tuesday, to McCain’s 36 percent.

“At a time like this, America needs a president in the White House who has actually had a job in the real economy,” he told supporters in St. Petersburg.

Florida marked the end of one phase of the campaign, the last in a series of single-state contests.