Gingrich faces uphill battle after Florida In the final hours of the Florida primary, before he succumbed to a resounding defeat, Newt Gingrich accused rival Mitt Romney of cutting kosher meals from "Holocaust survivors" as governor in Massachusetts. It was obvious a few hours later that Mr Gingrich's advertisement had little to no impact when Mr Romney claimed every major voting group - from Tea Party supporters to women - for a crushing victory. IN US Politics & Policy The bigger issue, however, is whether the bitterness generated over the last week in the battle between the pair lingers through the remainder of the primaries and into the general election. Mr Romney's well-funded and staffed campaign organisation was on full display in Florida, backed by a formidable third-party campaign support group, a "super Pac," which spent millions in 10 days in support of the former Massachusetts governor. Mr Romney tried to put the animosity behind him in his victory speech in Tampa on Tuesday, saying: "A competitive primary does not divide us; it prepares us (for the general election)." Mr Gingrich offered no such olive branch in his own speech in Orlando. Indeed, it could scarcely be called a concession speech, as he did not mention Mr Romney by name, let alone congratulate him on his victory. "We are going to have "people power" defeat "money power" over the next six months, and we will win," he said. His supporters held up placards referencing the length of the campaign season, saying "46 states to go." Mr Romney's win, with nearly 50 per cent of the vote, returns him to the position he was in before Mr Gingrich knocked him off his perch in South Carolina - as the prohibitive favourite for the 2012 nomination. Mr Romney exhibited not just ruthlessness in Florida but also the ability to execute a tough strategy - in this case a campaign to make sure Mr Gingrich, who has enjoyed two resurrections so far in the primaries, does not come back from the dead a third time. In victory, Mr Romney also showed his ability to pivot back towards the centre, and the general election, with a fluent speech targeting Barack Obama over his stewardship of the economy. Mr Romney's campaign team is well aware that their hardball tactics in Florida could provoke anger in some sections of the party. But they point to the bitter Democratic struggle between Mr Obama and Hillary Clinton through to midyear in 2008, a fight that was all but forgotten by the time of the November poll. Mrs Clinton, however, was gracious eventually in defeat. Mr Gingrich may not be as capable of making peace with Mr Romney. Mr Gingrich said he "had been studying what America needs to do since the fall of 1958" when he was with his father on an army base in Germany. By August this year, he insisted, he would be the nominee. Still, the gruelling Republican electoral calendar, and a lack of money, remains likely to scupper Mr Gingrich eventually. There are no debates for at least three weeks, and many of the ballots over the next month are caucuses. Without an organisation to match Mr Romney, Mr Gingrich will struggle to compete. Plus, the Republican establishment has turned against Mr Gingrich in force, which could choke his campaign of money. In US politics, that means death.