(Image Source: Newsy Staff)
 

BY XIAONAN WANG

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN

Mitt Romney’s win in the Florida primary gives him a solid lead in the GOP race. But his heavy spending on attack ads drew criticism.

On Fox News -- Sarah Palin describes an uphill battle for Romney’s opponents.

Palin: “It was very, very difficult for Newt Gingrich and the other candidates to counter that bombardment of advertisements.”

It wasn’t just Romney that ran aggressive ads. The New York Times reported nearly all of the ads run in Florida leading up to the primary were negative. An op-ed writer for the Digital Journal says this is a regrettable new norm.

“Romney had outspent Gingrich by $16 million in attack ads, proving that lies, viciousness and negativity works more to manipulate the average American voter than what the candidate simply has to offer. ”

On MSNBC, former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele says the negative ads might be a useful tactic in the short run, but they don’t actually add anything to Romney’s campaign.

“16 million dollars on negative advertising, not about promoting a positive message for the future of the country, what he is gonna do as a president, but what he is gonna do to take down Newt Gingrich.”

But it wasn’t just advertising that won the race. An analyst tells CNN Gingrich wasn’t expecting a bolder Romney at the debate podium.

“He expected a Mitt Romney to come who was the same Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney finally decided in Florida to play to win and not play to lose.”

Amid the criticism, conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh says attack ads are here to stay -- and he’s sick of hearing people whine about it.

Rush: “What in the world is POLITICS! What is it, if not this. ”

The next stop of the campaign is Nevada and Maine. Romney won both states in the 2008 contests.