Back on track

AT A polling station nestled among mansions and marinas in the wealthy Miami suburb of Coral Gables, a tanned couple in designer sunglasses pause on their way back to their Porsche to explain how they voted in Florida’s Republican presidential primary. The man says he voted for Mitt Romney due to his knowledge of business and finance, which should equip him to tackle America’s economic ills. Plus, adds his companion, Mr Romney has a better chance than the other candidates of beating Barack Obama come November.

It was not just the sleekly wealthy, however, who plumped for Mr Romney. A few miles away, underneath towering motorway viaducts on the fringes of Little Havana, a grizzled Cuban-American in a panama hat also believes that Mr Romney is the most electable. And in the opposite direction, in a recently developed neighbourhood where one in every 69 homes went into foreclosure in December, an elderly woman argues that Mr Romney has both the character and the policies needed in a president. There were voters who complained that Mr Romney is not a true conservative, that he is too slippery in his opinions—but even some of those said they voted for him, as the strongest candidate in the general election. That helps to explain Mr Romney’s lopsided victory in Florida: he took 46% of the vote, more than his two closest rivals, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, put together. Read more...