Mitt Romney on Tuesday won the Florida primary, defeating opponents Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. By Joe Raedle, Getty Images.

Taking advantage of his campaign organization and fiscal strength, Mitt Romney pushed his way to victory winning Tuesday’s Florida primary by 14 points.

The former Governor of Massachusetts beat his closest rival former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich — who only 10 days before won the South Carolina primary.

Romney’s win is the most crucial of any of the states so far.

“There is no doubt that Florida is a very significant state in the primary field,” said Peter Feaman, the Florida Republican Party National committeeman-elect. “Whoever wins Florida will certainly have a leg up at this point.”

And Romney does.

Taking all 50 of the state’s delegates, Romney is now closer than any candidate to the 1,144 delegates needed to claim the party’s mantle.

“Although he lost in South Carolina I think the Florida boost will surge him all the way to the convention,” said Matt Hoopfer, vice chairman of the Florida State University College Republicans.

The next chapter in the Republican primary begins almost immediately with seven contests in February. Nevada is the first state and is friendly turf for Romney, who won it in 2008.

“Being a Mormon in states like South Carolina and Iowa may have hurt Romney, but here in Nevada it is just the opposite,” said Eric Herzik, the chairman of the University of Nevada’s political science department.

“It helped him in the 2008 election and probably will help him again this year,” said Herzik.

While Romney enjoys a slight advantage in Nevada, Gingrich’s campaign is struggling to build an organization needed for the state-by-state progression of primaries.

However, Florida State University sophomore Alejandro Capote, a Gingrich supporter, continues to remain optimistic.

“He will move onto the next states and do what needs to get done to help our country,” Capote said. “We need someone who is strong, direct, who questions policies, who has debate skills and who knows how to unite people. Gingrich has all of this and I think people are going to see it eventually.”

Tuesday’s primary drew more voters then any of the first three contests in Iowa, New Hampshire and Florida.

According to the Florida Republican Party, before Tuesday 308,416 absentee ballots were returned and 283,250 early votes had been cast. This is about 10,000 more votes then were cast before the 2008 primary day.

“Republicans are so upset with the Obama record that they are going to go out and vote,” said Feaman. “Republicans are absolutely energized.”

Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum placed third and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) finished fourth in Tuesday’s primary.

You might also be interested in:

1. Why social media is a campaign necessity
2. Obama, Romney attract student contributions
3. Bachmann’s former backers shift their support
4. Election 2012: From the classroom to the campaign
5. Students gearing up to cover New Hampshire primary