Though Newt Gingrich has vowed to stay in the race until the convention, local political observers say Mitt Romney has all but sewn up the GOP presidential nomination with his win in Tuesday's Florida Primary.

Gingrich's win in South Carolina made the race a two-man fight, but Romney's big win in the Sunshine State means it's now his race to lose. Here's what some New Hampshire politicians and pundits had to say about Tuesday's result:

Windham GOP Chairman Travis Blais: This is a huge win for Mitt Romney, in terms of delegates, momentum, and narrative. There's no way to spin it otherwise... Romney is going to have a big megaphone with lots of media attention in the coming weeks. He might devote some of that energy to building his positives instead of running Newt Gingrich down. Romney's favorable ratings in swing states are NOT good. He needs to remedy that before Obama and the DNC work full-time to make those negatives permanent through November. 

We The People founder Jennifer Horn of Nashua: The Florida voters have reminded us that bully and bluster rarely wins. I have always said that robust primaries make candidates stronger and that is what has happened here. Mitt Romney ran a focused, disciplined campaign on the ground. He never forgot what his message was. Florida suffers with nearly 10 percent unemployment and even when answering the attacks from other candidates, he always returned to jobs, economy, balancing the budget and making Barack Obama a one-term president. He has proven that he can fight when necessary. Florida voters placed their trust in Mitt Romney and his vision for a free, strong, working America. His speech this evening focusing on American greatness was optimistic and forward looking – while this isn't over yet, he leaves Florida in a very strong position.

Former State Rep. Fran Wendelboe, R-New Hampton: Last week I was sweating it when Newt seemed to be surging. I thought he would not be able to hold that and tonight proved that the polling correctly projected Newt’s decline. Newt may stay in, but his rally is over. If there is any conservative movement to rally around one candidate, it is now just as likely to be Santorum, who did an excellent job in the last debate. America will eventually nominate Mitt Romney but it isn’t quite over yet. This will likely still be a race until Super Tuesday. I am watching Mitt’s speech now, he is hitting all the right notes. Starting out talking eventual GOP unity and then turning his sights on Obama. His loss of South Carolina may have been to Mitt what Bush’s loss of New Hampshire was to that race. Mitt came out of South Carolina with new energy, passion and fight.

Dover Republican Chris Buck: Mitt Romney overwhelmingly won moderates and women voters, while Newt Gingrich's base continues to be hard core conservatives and self-proclaimed Tea Partiers. This gives Romney the clear advantage moving forward, because as time goes on, the race becomes less and less about who is the "true conservative" and more about who can beat President Obama in the general election... After Florida's winner take all primary serving up 50 delegates to Mitt Romney, the nomination is all but assured for the former Massachusetts moderate.

Bedford Republican Stephen Poschmann: Without a media-driven scandal to rail against, plus two lackluster debate performances and Romney’s robust ground game, Gingrich had nowhere to go but down after his sizable win in South Carolina. His calling Romney out for negative campaigning while simultaneously lobbing personal attacks probably didn’t help his cause. He must now hope Santorum drops out in hopes of picking up the non-Romney/non-Paul vote. Rick Santorum’s valiant debate performance last Thursday was strong, but his lack of an organization in Florida kept him down. Following the battering in South Carolina, Romney kept his focus and discipline, channeling his ample resources to turn things around for himself. Momentum is his now Mitt Romney’s friend again.

Former State Rep. Jim Splaine, D-Portsmouth: When some were counting Newt Gingrich out a couple of months ago, I observed that he could hang in there at least through April. With his showing in South Carolina and now Florida, I think he'll be going for at least two or three more months, and he shouldn't be discounted yet. Mitt Romney's continual inability to nudge above 50 percent of the vote despite his endorsements and campaign spending indicates a serious split in the Republican/Tea Party right-wing. And unlike the long race for the 2008 Democratic nomination between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, this one is personally bitter to the core. This is anger that won't be settled with a smile and a handshake. The longer this goes, the better for Democrats, so I'm not complaining.

State Rep. Peter Hansen, R-Amherst: Not surprised by the outcome, maybe more surprised by the spread in the win. Romney seems to have finally "got it" and begun an offensive. Gingrich on the other hand appears to have overplayed his hand, thus the voter revolt. I don't believe it's over and it will be interesting to see what happens in the "Bible Belt" with Romney.

State Rep. Chris Christensen, R-Merrimack: Although we didn't see all the negative ads in Florida, I think Gingrich lost more than he gained by going negative. He kept showing up being negative himself instead of using surrogates. Romney was negative too, but seemed smoother about it, and for whatever reasons, the media didn't show him personally being negative the way they did with Gingrich the last few days. John King and CNN, whether knowingly or not, handed the South Carolina debates and the primary to Gingrich on a platter. The audiences loved seeing Gingrich chew King up and spit him out and they want to see him do that to Obama. On reflection, however, it seems that the voters still think Romney is the stronger candidate in terms of actually being
president.