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The Republican delegates from Tuesday's Florida primary will be counted, however. That contest is just two days away. And it's the first state where all the candidates are competing at full speed.
Rudy Giuliani has spent the most time in Florida in recent weeks, while Mitt Romney has run the most television ads. Still, it was John McCain who scored the endorsement of the state's Republican governor over the weekend.
NPR's Scott Horsley has more.
Governor CHARLIE CRIST (Republican, Florida): Hi. How are you? Good to see you as well. Have a good day...
SCOTT HORSLEY: Florida Governor Charlie Crist accompanied John McCain in a visit to a downtown Tampa restaurant this morning. Crist is the latest in a string of Florida politicians to throw their support to the Arizona senator. Crist called McCain an American hero.
Gov. CRIST: You talk about somebody who is tenacious and unyielding and persistent. John McCain defines all of that in so many ways.
HORSLEY: McCain says Crist's backing could give his campaign some extra momentum heading into Tuesday's primary here. But he also took the long view, saying Crist's popularity and the strength of the Republican Party in Florida will be an asset in the general election, come November.
Senator JOHN McCAIN (Republican, Arkansas; Presidential Candidate): I know that in November, I can carry the state of Florida, which is vital to the success of a Republican nominee.
HORSLEY: McCain's professed ability to carry Florida and other swing states by attracting independents could be a critical factor with some voters here, even those who disagree with the senator on certain issues like immigration.
Political analyst Susan MacManus of the University of South Florida says many voters here are as concerned with electability as they are with ideology.
Ms. SUSAN MacMANUS (Political Analyst, University of South Florida): Everybody here has got one eye on Tuesday and one eye on November. So for some Republicans, the fact that he attracts independents - as have been shown in other states - may be exactly a reason that they vote for him now, the electability in November.
HORSLEY: Republican rival Mitt Romney has been making the counter argument, saying McCain's appeal to independents won't help him in Tuesday's primary. That's because, unlike the contest in New Hampshire and South Carolina, Florida's primary is open only to Republicans. In fact, the Romney camp has been using McCain's moderate appeal as a club this weekend, branding the Arizona senator Democrats' favorite Republican, and hyping Bill Clinton's comment that McCain and Hillary Clinton are very close. Romney is campaigning as a Washington outsider, hoping to appeal to both fiscal and social conservatives.
Mr. MITT ROMNEY (Former Republican Governor, Massachusetts; Presidential Candidate): We're going to come together and change Washington for the better, deal with the problems we have, make sure that we have strong families and a strong military and a strong economy again to make sure that America is always the hope of the Earth.
HORSLEY: Polls show one-time frontrunner Rudy Giuliani has slipped behind both McCain and Romney here, and possibly behind the cash-strapped Iowa caucus winner Mike Huckabee as well. But thanks to early voting, some Giuliani supporters have already locked in their choices. Giuliani reminded backers at a Republican dinner in Sarasota, Friday, his own unconventional bid for the nomination is also based, in part, on electability, even in places where Republicans don't ordinarily do well.
Mr. RUDY GIULIANI (Former Republican Mayor, New York City; Presidential Candidate): The day after I'm nominated, we are not going to close down the offices in New York and in California and in Illinois and in Michigan. We're going to fight for the votes there. We're not going to win every state. But we're going to have a competitive fight in every state.
HORSLEY: And no one knows more about competitive presidential fights than the voters here in Florida.
Scott Horsley, NPR News, Tampa.