Romney cruises in Florida; Paulistas have rare shot at relevance in Nevada

Mitt Romney beat Newt Gingrich in Florida by not quite 15%, as it turned out. Newt will fight on. So will Rick Santorum, who has followed his narrow victory here in Iowa with three straight third place finishes.

Romney's victory should put to rest the notion that conservatives won't support him. As in New Hampshire, he convincingly carried that demographic- as well as all the others that matter.

Meanwhile, Paul's supporters are enraged because the media didn't give similar coverage to their man's victory in a straw poll in Tennessee. Paul- who does quite well in straw polls, but alone among the remaining contenders has yet to win an actual primary or caucus- got 7% of the vote in Florida, once again finishing last among the active candidates.

The Ronbots may have a rare post-Iowa chance to be somewhat relevant- and maybe even win one- when the candidate from Mars provides what will likely be the biggest challenge to Romney in Nevada Saturday.  Romney beat Paul by 51% to 14% in Nevada's 2008 caucus; the large Mormon vote in Nevada figures to help the front-runner this year, too. But Paul's libertarian message resonates in the Silver State, and he could do very well there indeed.

For a change.