McCain Beats Romney in Florida

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The Candidates React-- John McCain

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) addresses his supporters after winning the Florida primary election.

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Giuliani campaigned hard throughout Florida, touting his leadership, his experience managing New York City and his support for a national insurance fund that would make it easier for Floridians to purchase affordable homeowners and flood insurance.

He also spent more than $4 million on television ads, campaign mailers and a sophisticated ground organization. Thousands of volunteers made hundreds of thousands of get-out-the-vote calls in the final days of the campaign here. On the day before the primary, he flew reporters across the state for a series of rallies.

"We're going to win Florida tomorrow," Giuliani said repeatedly, promising that a victory in the Sunshine State would propel him to the nomination and ultimately to the White House.

But Giuliani was repeatedly upstaged by McCain and Romney, who greeted each other gingerly in a national debate in Boca Raton, then let the aggression fly in days of exchanges that barely disguised contempt.

McCain attempted to shift the conversation to national security by accusing Romney of having supported a date for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

Romney called that "dishonest" and demanded an apology from McCain, who not only refused, but also said that Romney owed an apology to the men and women serving in the military in Iraq.

That spat was followed by two days of arguing about which of the two is the more liberal. Romney said McCain's achievements in Congress on immigration, campaign finance and energy would take the country on a "liberal Democratic course." McCain charged that "Mitt Romney's campaign is based on the wholesale deception of voters."

Despite the lack of delegates, the Clinton campaign claimed a big win. "I am thrilled by the vote of confidence you have given me today," Clinton said at a rally in Davie.

The Obama campaign countered the effort to spin the results, mockingly saying it would call the race early and announcing that the candidates were tied for delegates -- with each getting zero -- when the results were in.

"It is not a legitimate race," Sen. John F. Kerry, who has endorsed Obama, told reporters on a call organized by the Obama campaign. "It should not become a spin race, it should not become a fabricated race."

But the Clinton campaign was counting on voters in states with Feb. 5 contests paying little attention to the confusion over delegates. The headlines, they hoped, would simply reflect that she won by a huge margin over Obama in a large state.

In every statement about the race, Clinton and her surrogates repeatedly insisted that Florida's "votes count" -- despite her earlier agreement to honor party rules.

Staff writers Perry Bacon Jr. and Anne E. Kornblut in Florida and polling director Jon Cohen and polling analyst Jennifer Agiesta in Washington contributed to this report.