today the candidate has no campaign events. newt gingrich has five. rob and paula, back to you. in case you re wondering why florida is so important, one, it s a very politically distinct state, but secondly this is the first state that will award all of the delegates. it s a winner take all system. the winner gets all 50 delegates from the state of florida. the match number for the republicans is 1,044 delegates. 50 is a nice chunk and a momentum boost. and you heard about the numbers differentiating the two, romney and gingrich. and earlier in the spin he said we just conducted a poll and in one we re neck and neck. but it s amazing at the start of the campaign nine days ago gingrich had a five percentage point lead over romney and he certainly has stumbled. twists and turns. and today the biggest poll of all. the poll that counts. be sure to tune in to abc news tonight as we bring you the results of the big florida primary. diane sawyer, george stephanopoulos, of course will b
five ads in just 15 minutes, all for romney. including that controversial ad using a 1997 report from then anchor tom brokaw on speaker gingrich s ethics investigation. airing not once ethics violations. reporter: not twice. they found him guilty of ethics violations. reporter: three times in 15 minutes. it is an aggressive shift from the romney team after that stunning loss to gingrich in south carolina. in florida clearly outspent, gingrich vowed to stay in the race through the convention. that s usually an indication you think you re going to lose. when you say you re going to go on no matter what happens, that s usually not a good sign. reporter: gingrich blasted the front-runner in an interview with jon karl. and that s what you think romney is doing is buying this election? of course he is. where is he getting the money? mostly from wall street. reporter: in fact, gingrich went on to tell jon karl that he s just getting started but as we flew from jacksonv
life into his campaign. but team romney blunted any further surge with a bombardment of negative ads. in the past week romney and his allies have hammered gingrich, spending nearly $13.8 million on attack ads in florida. that s nearly four times what gingrich and his allies have spent here. people backed up and said wow frankly, if that stuff was true, i wouldn t vote for myself. reporter: he may not be spending as much on negative television ads, but gingrich is blasting romney on the campaign trail. why would anybody in the establishment think that a massachusetts moderate, which is a liberal by republican standards, why would they think that he s going to be able to debate barack obama? reporter: gingrich says no matter what happens he s staying in the race until the convention. that s usually an indication you think you re going to lose. reporter: here s another sign of how confident the romney campaign is here in florida.
but gingrich is vowing to bounce back. karen travers is joining us from tampa with more on what s ahead. good morning, karen. reporter: good morning, rob. good morning, paula. yesterday mitt romney looked like a guy who was having a lot of fun on the campaign trail and someone who s expecting a big win here in florida today. at his last event before the polls open he didn t even bash newt gingrich. with a double-digit lead in the polls mitt romney decided to change his tune. oh beautiful for spacious skies in his final event before the polls open here in florida mitt romney skipped the trash talking, a rare easing up on newt gingrich. i believe in american greatness. i believe in america s exceptionalism. reporter: the romney campaign is showing its confidence from the candidate down to his 5-year-old grandson, parker. it looks like papa s going to win. reporter: gingrich s big win in south carolina breathed new
polls kind of puts you at ease the night before, huh? i d be singing something. and what could be another sign of his confidence, romney will not appear at any campaign events today. however, gingrich has several scheduled for today. abc s david muir is following the race. reporter: this fight in florida is far different from what we ve seen here. just weeks ago it was not uncommon mitt romney would deliver an entire stump speech without ever mentioning these two words newt gingrich. in jacksonville mitt romney walked up onto that stage, and we counted. just 33 seconds before romney took aim. speaker gingrich wasn t very happy with the debates, though. he said after the first debate that he didn t do well because the crowd was so quiet. reporter: and then outside tampa 44 seconds in. speaker gingrich. he s not feeling very excited these days. he s i know. it s sad. he s been flailing around a bit. reporter: and to give you an idea of what it s like for anyone watching