WASHINGTON – Florida is not South Carolina, and if Newt Gingrich isn’t punching the media he doesn’t seem to have anything to say. That Mitt Romney got a new debate coach who pumped up his aggressiveness and gave him game caught Gingrich off guard. It was Rick Santorum that leveled the only hits on Romney via the health care mandate, with the consensus on Twitter that his veep spot is now kaput. (That’s a joke, folks.)

Ron Paul didn’t have to contend with unpopular foreign policy questions tonight, so he was charming and a palate cleanser.

Rick Santorum introduced his 93 year-old mother, who had to have a wonderful night watching her son. Too bad he’s a hopelessly intolerant fundamentalist that independents would reject, because he had quite a night tonight.

As for Newt Gingrich, Sheldon Adelson has a decision to make. Gingrich has another hit piece coming out on Romney, but with the entire GOP establishment now protecting Romney it’s going to get tough for Gingrich if he starts doing Pres. Obama’s work for him.

Jacksonville was Romney territory tonight and he used it to his best advantage. I don’t do predictions, especially in this insanity, but I’ve not wavered that Mitt Romney will be the nominee and tonight he made up ground and out-classed Newt Gingrich by a mile.

However, Romneycare remains unanswerable for Mitt Romney. That’s not going to change, so he has to find another answer, because tonight Rick Santorum cleaned his clock on the subject and Pres. Obama will, too.

Taylor Marsh is the author of the new book, The Hillary Effect – Politics, Sexism and the Destiny of Loss, which is now available in print on Amazon. Marsh is a veteran political analyst and commentator. She has been profiled in the Washington Post, The New Republic, and has been seen on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, CNN, MSNBC, Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera Arabic, as well as on radio across the dial and on satellite, including the BBC. Marsh lives in the Washington, D.C. area. This column is cross posted from her new media blog.