Recent Florida GOP Presidential Primary History (ContributorNetwork)

The Florida presidential primary is Jan. 31, the fourth nominating contest for the GOP's four remaining presidential candidates. The Week reports Newt Gingrich is in the driver's seat, having won the South Carolina primary with 40 percent of the vote. Florida has a larger population than the three previous states combined.

A look at the Florida primary's recent history may yield some clues as to who may win the 2012 contest.

2008

In 2008, Sen. John McCain won the Florida primary with just more than 700,000 votes. CNN reports he won with 36 percent of the votes and won by five percent or nearly 100,000 votes over Mitt Romney. The election was held on Jan. 29, 2008. Rep. Ron Paul came in a very distant fifth place with just 63,000 or three percent.

McCain was fresh off his win in South Carolina. He went on to win the overall nomination and lost to then-Sen. Barack Obama in the general election.

2000

In 2000, the Florida primary was a landslide ahead of the controversial general election. George W. Bush was the governor of Texas and won with nearly 74 percent of the vote. The Federal Election Commission states the election was held March 14, 2000.

The governor of Florida at the time was Bush's brother, Jeb. The eventual 2000 nominee got just over 516,000 votes compared to just nearly 139,500 votes for McCain. Florida's presidential preference primary was held much later in the season before the 2008 election.

1996

A dozen years ago, Bob Dole captured the Florida presidential primary with nearly 57 percent. He received over 511,000 votes and was far ahead of his competition in the election held March 12, 1996. Steve Forbes came in second with nearly 182,000 votes.

Dole went on to win the GOP nomination and took on incumbent Bill Clinton. Dole lost to Clinton by 8 million votes, which happened to be the amount of votes earned by H. Ross Perot in the three-way race for president.

The winner of the Florida primary may have a close fight on their hands. The most recent results were some of the closest in the state's history.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120125/pl_ac/10881779_recent_florida_gop_presidential_primary_history

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