According to the latest from PPP Romney is polling at 40% in Colorado to 26% for Rick Santorum, 18% for Gingrich, and 12% for Ron Paul. Meanwhile Santorum is actually leading their poll in Minnesota at 29% to 27% for Romney, 22% for Gingrich, and 19% for Paul.

PPP is watching an overall trend downward for Gingrich. Check out the link above for more insight into the numbers.

h/t Dvorak Blog

Numbers to come.

See exit polls

@LisaDCNN – FL EXIT POLLS – Romney sweeps: He won all age groups, all income groups, all education groups (HS, college, postgrad, etc.)

@ErinBurnett – Another amazing #: #democrat #superpacs spent $2.28M on BROADCAST ads alone against #republican candidates in #florida primary

Marco Rubio: Florida winner will be nominee

Check out this story from the Washington Post using presidential polling to show Obama is the most polarizing president we’ve ever had. He beats out former title holder President George W. Bush. I bring this up not just to bash the president, which is fine too, but to make a note of something. The media LOVES to point to the leaders we embrace on the far right and scream about electability and their polarizing nature. That reasoning has dominated the 2012 primary and is driving the push behind Mitt Romney seen as the “electable” candidate.

What about the president’s polarizing nature though? Where are the calls to drop him from the ticket? Where is the outrage that this man ran on the idea of bringing the country closer together but has, in action, driven us further apart? The president uses divisive language at every turn, vilifies his opponents and refuses to accept compromise on a few small issues to push forward much larger legislation that most Americans and politicians from both sides agree with. Funny then that we are always the bad people who are polarized and trying to stop him.

The reality is, our nation has been moving in this direction for awhile now. Our politics are becoming more polarized as we see a larger division between what the grassroots members of each Party want and what is being delivered by elected officials. The far right and the far left are electing politicians more in-line with what we want because they are moving toward the center. To reach the base, each side is becoming more entrenched. As someone on the far right the more the President and Democrats align themselves with the far left, the more I will dislike them and fight back.

Pretty simple to figure out here. The shock is that much of the media, completely aligned with the President, are surprised that his agenda is pissing off so many people. Even more shocking? George W. Bush recieved his record breaking gap after being pummeled by the hour by ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, Hollywood movies, television shows, publications like Time Magazine, the New York Times and so on and so on. Obama has skated through with amazing media attention and still is disliked by a large population of Americans. Quite the achievement.

When asked about the subject Ron Paul scored major points by essentially saying he didn’t care and that it was time to move onto real issues. Rick Santorum repeatedly tried to elevate the debate beyond the petty attacks, Newt joyfully tried to echo his calls for a few minutes to score points, then Romney baited Gingrich and it began anew with an onslaught between them.

I would be the first person to argue that there is some benefit to this kind of infighting in a primary. Dirty laundry is aired and rebuttals honed for the general. Similar attacks and disclosure filled the Democrat primary in 2008 and it did not stop their candidate from going on to win. I could also argue that had we experienced more vetting in that election we may have been spared the embarrassment of nominating such a flawed candidate in John McCain.

We moved long ago though from productive vetting to childish and ill-formed arguments and that is not just because our candidates are poor vessels as attackers but also because they are almost the exact same candidate. Nearly every attack is followed with “well so did you.” On every topic from the environment to health care reform to immigration their attacks against one another recall Michele Bachmann simply lumping the two together as “Newt Romney.” Meanwhile their fake outrage over the other’s sinister attacks and attempts to play victim are laughable and only serve to lower their credibility and stature.

I have plenty of issues with both Rick Santorum and Ron Paul but last night I found myself very easily putting those aside. The two rose above, made their case on a host of issues and put forward consistent visions. While each disagrees strongly with the other, they rarily lower themselves to personal attacks. Where they disagree there is true division that represents fundamental ideological differences between libertarians and the christian right.

While entertaining in a schadenfreude way last nights debate and the ensuring attacks between Newt Romney is an embarrassment for our party advanced by two similarly flawed candidates. If this is the best we can do for November, I fear we will lose.