The 12-point lead that Mitt Romney enjoyed two weeks ago in Florida has disintegrated, says a new Quinnipiac University poll that finds the Republican primary a virtual tie between Romney and surging South Carolina winner Newt Gingrich.

The poll — conducted Thursday through Monday — shows Romney getting 36 percent support from likely GOP primary voters and Gingrich getting 34 percent. The poll has a 4 percent margin of error. Rick Santorum gets 13 percent and Ron Paul 10 percent. Among voters surveyed after Saturday’s South Carolina primary, Gingrich leads Romney 40 percent to 34 percent.

Gingrich’s Florida surge comes even as Republicans believe, by a 49-to-35 percent margin, that Romney would be better able to defeat President Obama in the general election.

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LEHIGH ACRES — Standing in front of one of the many foreclosed homes in this Lee County community, Mitt Romney blasted President Obama‘s stewardship of the economy and slammed GOP rival Newt Gingrich for “influence peddling” for troubled mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

“This president has failed America and failed Florida,” Romney said to a crowd of about 250.

Romney appeared with a man who said he recently lost his home because of a mix-up with his bank. Romney called it an example of how banks are “overwhelmed” by the Dodd-Frank bill and other regulations.

“So banks are scared to death to write down loans for fear that it’ll make them go insolvent. Banks are having a hard time. At the very time we wanted banks to be more flexible and creative and helping people stay in their homes, banks have become less flexible, less creative, more insistent on foreclosure,” Romney said.

“The right course for America is to have a president who understands how to help our lending institutions be creative and find ways to keep people who can meet their payments stay in their homes, and I’ll do that.”

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With all eyes on Florida in the GOP presidential race, Senate President Mike Haridopolos might have been justified saying “I told you so” about the Sunshine State’s early Republican primary next week.

The legislature moved Florida’s primary date up from its originally scheduled date to Jan. 31 over the objections of state and national GOP leaders. Haridopolos and others wanted to elevate the state’s role in determining the eventual nominee.

With Newt Gingrich surging in the polls after unexpectedly trouncing Mitt Romney in South Carolina, Florida could be “the lynchpin to one person winning” the race, Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, said.

“Every once in a while it feels good to be right,” Haridopolos, a Romney backer, said this morning. “It was a risk, don’t get me wrong. But we thought it was a good risk. Clearly the eyes of the nation if not the eyes of the world are on this…I think it’s a good thing.”

And national coverage of the candidates stumping around sunny, mild-climed Florida may help solve some of the state’s budget problems as well, Haridopolos said.d

“This is like free advertising for our state and it wasn’t Visit Florida that had to pay the tab,” Haridopolos said.

Watching candidates “in their shirt sleeves” in sunny Florida may prompt Northerners to consider relocating their businesses to or visiting Florida, Haridopolos, a former New Yorker, said.

“So I think it’s been a jackpot,” Haridopolos said. “And I think we’re in the place where we deserve to be.”

Florida is the bellweather state in the general election and deserves to be so in the primaries, Haridopolos said, after the lesser-known candidates have been weeded out in Iowa and New Hampshire.

I love these kind of competitions – except when I’m in races. I like the ones where no one runs against me. It’s a lot more successful,” the former U.S. Senate candidate joked. “But to be serious. I think it’s good. I think this will elevate our candidate.”

TAMPA — During one of his characteristic name-dropping riffs in Monday night’s GOP debate, Newt Gingrich said he “went to a Goldwater organizing session in 1964,” first met Ronald Reagan in 1974 and worked with supply side icons Jack Kemp and Art Laffer in the late 1970s.

The reference to Barry Goldwater‘s 1964 campaign is an important one for conservatives. Though Goldwater was buried by LBJ in a general election landslide that year, Goldwater’s campaign contributed to the rise of Reagan (his “Time for Choosing” speech was made on Goldwater’s behalf) and is regarded as the moment when the GOP began embracing conservatism rather than the more liberal brand of Republicanism symbolized at the time by New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller.

Note that Gingrich merely said he went to a Goldwater meeting. The Drudge Report this morning has unearthed a 1988 clip of Gingrich saying he was “a Rockefeller state chairman in the South.”

Two polls today show South Carolina come-from-behind winner Newt Gingrich erasing big Mitt Romney leads and moving into first place in Florida’s Republican primary race.

The latest is from Rasmussen Reports, a trusted firm for many Republicans. Calling Romney’s past big lead “ancient history,” Rasmussen finds Gingrich with 41 percent to 32 percent for Romney.

Earlier this morning, an Insider Advantage poll also showed Gingrich with a 36-to-24 percent lead over Romney.

Part 1 of Newt Gingrich‘s Florida strategy — winning the South Carolina’s primary — went according to plan on Saturday.

Part 2 of the Gingrich plan is to convert the South Carolina momentum to cash that can be used to by television time in Florida’s 10 media markets.

The Gingrich camp said this morning it raised more than $1 million in the first 24 hours after the South Carolina win. The campaign is also pointing to an Insider Advantage poll that shows Gingrich with a 34-to-26 percent lead over Mitt Romney in Florida.

The four remaining GOP presidential contestants will debate tonight in Tampa.

ORMOND BEACH – Mitt Romney got big applause here tonight when he scolded some hecklers who interrupted his remarks during a rally at a lumber yard.

PostOnPolitics couldn’t make out exactly what the hecklers were saying aside from the phrase “We are the people.”

“No, actually, these are the people,” Romney said, referring to the hundreds of supporters listening to his remarks. “These are the people. You are the interrupters. We believe in the Constitution, we believe in the right of speech and you believe in interrupting. Take a hike.”

It was part of an event in which Romney ripped South Carolina primary winner Newt Gingrich‘s ethics and post-congressional stint as a $1.6 million consultant to mortgage giant Freddie Mac. Read about it here.

Romney plans to milk the Freddie Mac issue some more. His campaign has scheduled a conference call on it for Monday morning.

With the South Carolina Republican presidential primary over, the GOP’s nomination fight moves to the potentially decisive Sunshine State for two debates this week — Monday in Tampa, Thursday in Jacksonville — and the Jan. 31 Florida primary.

At least two GOP candidates will be campaigning in Florida today. Rick Santorum will be in Broward County to visit Rev. O’Neal Dozier‘s Worldwide Christian Center in Pompano Beach this morning and then attend a 2 p.m. rally at Wings Plus in Coral Springs. Mitt Romney has a 5:30 p.m. rally scheduled in Ormond Beach.

As of late Saturday, South Carolina victor Newt Gingrich had not announced any public events in Florida for today.

But Gingrich is clearly focused on the Sunshine State. Not long after the polls closed in the Palmetto State, Gingrich’s campaign website was urging visitors to help raise $1 million for a “Knockout Punch Moneybomb In Florida.”

It’s not just the Republican Party establishment that believes in Mitt Romney‘s inevitability.

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has weighed in on tonight’s South Carolina Republican primary results with a statement that blisters Romney and doesn’t mention Palmetto State victor Newt Gingrich. It’s clear that Democrats expect President Obama to be facing Romney in the fall.

The Broward County congresswoman says tonight’s results show Romney has been “exposed as being out of touch with the middle class, and voters are seeing that he lives by another set of rules. He’s refused to level with voters, and now he’s in trouble. Anyone who goes into a state with a significant double digit lead yet ends up losing that support in a week, is someone who is failing to connect.”

Read Wasserman Schultz’s entire statement after the jump…

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When he visited Florida last week, Newt Gingrich said the key to his success in the Sunshine State’s Jan. 31 primary would be a victory in South Carolina to slow down frontrunner Mitt Romney.

“All of it depends on winning in South Carolina,” Gingrich said in the parking lot at Cafe Versailles in Miami on Jan. 13. “That stops all of Romney’s momentum and you’re going to see, I think, a very substantial change here….

“Watch next Saturday. If I win in South Carolina, it is a whole new game here in Florida.”

Next Saturday has arrived. The polls have just closed in the Palmetto State, and exit polls make it appear that the South Carolina piece of Gingrich’s Florida strategy is falling into place. That means Florida will play the important role Republican leaders wanted when they bucked the national GOP’s calendar and set a Jan. 31 primary to get a jump on most other states. And that means two upcoming Florida debates — Monday in Tampa, Thursday in Jacksonville — should be high-stakes affairs.

Stay tuned.

Rick Perry’s departure from the GOP presidential race is almost certain to help Newt Gingrich in the Sunshine State’s upcoming primary as many of Perry’s conservative supporters – including the next Florida Senate president – defect to the former Speaker of the House.

But how much that matters depends on how well Gingrich, distrusted by many tea party activists, performs in South Carolina this weekend, Republican legislative leaders say.

Senate President-Designate Don Gaetz, a Perry backer, said he’s leaning towards Gingrich, not because the Texas governor has endorsed his former opponent, but because he, like many others, believes Gingrich would handily outshine President Obama in debates.

“I’ve respected Newt Gingrich for years,” said Gaetz, R-Niceville. Gaetz said he’s read Gingrich’s books and met with the historian on several occasions, “more than just casually.”

But, he said, “I’m happy with either Romney or Gingrich but I’m leaning toward Gingrich,” although “I can support Romney and support him with enthusiasm.”

Gingrich’s performance in South Carolina will influence how relevant Florida will be in determining the Republican candidate, some political insiders, including Gaetz, say.

The outcome of Florida’s winner-take-all-delegates primary could whittle the race down to contest between Romney and Gingrich or crown Romney as the all-but-inevitable nominee.

“It’s important for Florida to be relevant. So for parochial reasons, I hope that the contest goes on through the end of January at least because I want Florida to be important in selecting the Republican nominee,” Gaetz said. “So Gingrich would have to do well in South Carolina to keep hope alive among those who are unsatisfied with Romney.”

Perry dropping out of the race may have little impact on Florida voters, said Sen. John Thrasher, a former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida and Mitt Romney supporter.

“I don’t think it makes a lot of difference. I think Newt’s where he is. I think Gov. Romney’s where he is. Most people still believe Gov. Romney’s the best choice, particularly in Florida. He’s got an incredible organization. He’s got a lot of troops on the ground all over the state. I think he’s got the resources to really put forth his message by Jan. 31,” Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, said.

Perry made the right decision, Gaetz said.

“There comes a point when you look around and you realize that it’s hopeless. And I think that Gov. Perry has gotten to that point,” he said.

While his rivals have yet to launch a TV campaign in Florida before the Jan. 31 primary, Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney is airing his fourth ad in the state (three in English and one Spanish-language spot).

This spot counters criticism from Newt Gingrich and others of Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital by mentioning three successful businesses Bain helped — Staples, Sports Authority and Steel Dynamics — and by likening the Bain critics to President Obama.

“We expected the Obama administration to put free markets on trial,” says the ad’s narrator, who then quotes an editorial from The Wall Street Journal (no great fan of Romney’s) saying the Republican Bain critics “are embarrassing themselves.”

MIAMI — Newt Gingrich visited the heart of Miami’s Cuban-American community this morning and said that as president he’d like to create a “Cuban spring that is even more exciting than the Arab spring” on the communist island.

Gingrich has faced harsh criticism from many conservatives this week for accusing GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney of profiting by “looting” other businesses and laying off workers when Romney headed the private equity firm Bain Capital.

Gingrich sought to regain the offensive on the issue this morning, saying he’s merely questioning Romney’s claim that companies Bain invested in created more than 100,000 jobs.

“I’ve gotten huge pushback. Some of you have seen this on television. So let me be clear, to question a presidential candidate’s claims to have created jobs is not to attack capitalism, it’s to question a candidate. The idea that some candidate can make a claim and then yell foul when you ask him to prove it is just silly. If he can’t stand up today and defend his claim, how’s he going to stand up to Obama in the fall,” Gingrich said.

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UPDATE — The Romney event has moved its Thursday rally to noon at the Convention Center across the street from the Kravis Center.

Before scooping up some big bucks at a Palm Beach fundraiser Thursday evening, Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney will hold an afternoon rally at the Kravis Center.

The 1 p.m. Thursday event was announced this morning by Romney’s campaign.

Newt Gingrich will also be raising money in South Florida on Thursday night at an event in Miami. Gingrich also plans a public “grass-roots” event in Miami early Friday morning, followed by a midday appearance in Orlando for the opening of his Florida headquarters before heading to South Carolina to campaign for the Palmetto State’s Jan. 21 primary.

Perennial swing state Florida is too close to call in a hypothetical general election match-up between President Obama and either Republican Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum, a new Quinnipiac University poll says.

A Senate race between Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson and Republican U.s. Rep. Connie Mack would also be a virtual tie, the new poll says.

The poll shows Obama, who carried Florida with 51 percent in 2008, continues to have underlying job-approval and favorability problems in the Sunshine State. Fifty-four percent of Florida voters disapprove of the job he’s doing, 52 percent say he doesn’t deserve to be reelected and 50 percent say they have an unfavorable opinion of him.

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There will be ample opportunities to eat and hear Newt Gingrich on Jan. 28, the Saturday before Florida’s Jan. 31 primary.

Gingrich will appear at the Martin County GOP’s Lincoln Day brunch at 9 a.m. on that date at Willoughby Country Club in Stuart. The $75-a-head event ($125 for couples) is expected to sell out all 230 spaces, says Martin County Republican Chairwoman Susan Auld.

That same evening, Gingrich will keynote the Orange County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day dinner in Orlando, then jet down to West Palm Beach to headline the Palm Beach County GOP’s Lincoln Day dinner at the Kravis Center. He’s expected to make it to the Palm Beach County event by 8 p.m.

No word yet on lunchtime appearances by Gingrich on the 28th.

Mitt Romney has opened up a double-digit lead over Newt Gingrich in Florida’s GOP presidential race with Iowa phenom Rick Santorum rising from obscurity to third place, a new Quinnipiac University poll says.

Romney is favored by 36 percent of Floridians, with Gingrich getting 24 percent and former Pennsylvania Sen. Santorum, who finished in a virtual tie with Romney in last week’s Iowa caucuses, getting 16 percent. Texas Rep. Ron Paul is fourth with 10 percent.

With 22 days and primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina to go before Florida’s Jan. 31 primary, 54 percent of likely Republican voters say there’s a possibility they’ll change their minds before election day.

Quinnipiac’s Jan. 4-8 survey of 560 likely GOP primary voters has a 4.1 percent margin of error.

A month ago, Quinnipiac’s poll showed Gingrich topping the GOP field in Florida with 35 percent to 22 percent for Romney. Santorum was at 2 percent in Quinnipiac’s early-December Florida poll.

Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina results appeared to have an effect on Florida GOP voters in 2008. Rudy Giuliani led in Florida polls in late 2007, but after he virtually ignored the other early states, he sank to a fourth-place finish in Florida’s 2008 primary.

Former Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum will be Florida chairman for Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign. Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty and former Jeb Bush Secretary of Health Care Administration Alan Levine will be co-chairs.

Gingrich’s statewide steering committee is fairly thin on Palm Beach County-Treasure Coast figures. Palm Beach County Commissioner Steven Abrams is on the team, as is state Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart.

McCollum four years ago was Florida chairman for Rudy Giuliani‘s presidential campaign.

Read the Gingrich campaign’s press release after the jump….

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Six weeks before Florida’s Jan. 31 presidential primary, the Newt Gingrich campaign today released a list of Florida county chairmen and chairwomen.

Gingrich recently tapped Sen. Marco Rubio‘s 2010 campaign manager, Jose Mallea, as Gingrich’s state director for Florida.

Gingrich’s local team is chaired by Palm Beach County Commissioner Steven Abrams. Co-chairs are Tami Donnally (who until recently served a similar role for Herman Cain‘s campaign) and Janeen Capizola.

Read the Gingrich campaign’s full release after the jump….

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Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will replace Herman Cain as the keynote speaker at the Palm Beach County Republican Party’s Jan. 28 Lincoln Day dinner — three days before Florida’s high-stakes presidential primary.

The local GOP thought it scored a major coup in October when it booked the surging Cain for the $195-a-plate event. Cain suspended his campaign a couple weeks ago.

Gingrich is the current GOP frontrunner in Florida and most national polls — but so was Rudy Giuliani in December 2007.

It’ll be the second year in a row that Gingrich has been the local party’s Lincoln Day speaker. He headlined the Feb. 24 GOP dinner when he was on the verge of entering the race.

Gingrich is also slated to appear at a brunch for the Martin County GOP earlier in the day on Jan. 28.