Republican challengers look ahead to Florida

After a bruising clash in South Carolina, Republican presidential frontrunners Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich took their battle to a bigger stage when the campaign moved to Florida yesterday.

Gingrich, a former US House of Representatives speaker, thrashed Romney in the South Carolina primary on Saturday, suggesting the race for their party’s nomination and the right to face President Barack Obama in November may last months more.

The largest of the early voting states by far, Florida presents logistical and financial challenges that appear to give an advantage to Romney’s well-funded campaign machine.