McCain And Clinton Win Florida Primary

With over 80% of the votes counted, John McCain and Hillary Clinton are the projected winners in the long-awaited Florida primary.

McCain topped Mitt Romney with a five point spread, 35% - 30% and leapt ahead in the delegate count 93 to 59.

Rudy Giuliani ended up third with 15% and Mike Huckabee fourth with 13%.

It remains to be seen which way things go for the Republicans from here on in. No one is certain whether Rudy Giuliani is going to withdraw from the race at this point, and if he did where his voters would go, although there's been some speculation he might endorse McCain.

McCain's biggest problem now is that his campaign is now virtually bankrupt and out of cash, with Super Tuesday coming up in a week - while Romney is still flush. On the other hand, Romney's main problem is Mike Huckabee still being in the race, since many of his conservative supporters would probably vote for Romney otherwise.

The Democrat's primary was essentially a beauty contest, since the state was stripped of its delegates by the DNC for having the temerity to defy them by holding their primary when they saw fit. But it's worth noting that in a state with a large Hispanic population and a much smaller black electorate than South Carolina, Hillary beat Obama by almost two to one, 50% to 33%.

Or to put it another way, there's a reason George Soros got on the phone and marshalled Teddy and the family to endorse Obama and get to work campaigning for him in places like California....to work the Hispanics voters and stop the hemorrhaging of the Latino vote to Hillary.