Florida finally brought the immigration and Hispanics issue full front. In the Sunshine State, 15 percent of GOP voters are Hispanic. In 2012, Hispanic voters are an even bigger factor in many of the swing states, so the issue of jobs and immigration directed at Latinos will become even more crucial for a GOP victory in November. George W. Bush got 44 percent in 2004, but John McCain and Sara Palin only got 31 percent and lost.

“Our problem is not 11 million grandmothers [to deport],” said Mitt Romney, criticizing Newt Gingrich’s comment that some immigration reform is needed and that “we are not going to deport 11 million grandmothers.”

“The language of the ghetto” was the phrase in a 2007 Gingrich speech where he said English should be the language of “success” and that bilingual language instruction is a bad a idea. The Romney campaign used that in a radio ad, which Newt hated and brought up in the debate.

“My father was born in Mexico,” Romney said, objecting to Gingrich’s ad that Romney is “anti-immigrant.”

All four candidates had a good night. They each got in memorable lines or quips. Gingrich did not blow away the debate as he did in South Carolina. Romney exceeded expectations and seemed more confident again (as he was when he was the sure winner in about October or November of last year).

Of course, Ron Paul will not get the nomination, but he sure has a loyal following and I’m sure he will stay in to the end.

Rick Santorum is not getting any traction for some reason, even though he looks great and is a smart debater. After the second Florida debate, he looks like he’s pulling out. This morning I got news that he was “disgusted” with the debates, furious that it’s all about Romney and Gingrich, personal attacks not about policy, and he’s out of money. He was headed back to Pennsylvania to spend time with his family. Looked like he’s bailing to me, but too early to confirm.

If it is true, then it means the Iowa caucuses and Bob Vander Plaats got it wrong in Iowa. Santorum in the end will have been only the Iowa, evangelical, too socially conservative candidate. He has gone nowhere since Iowa, so that alone tells you something about the Iowa caucuses. Think Huckabee in 2008. Stay tuned!

Commenting on the 2012 GOP primaries and caucuses, Peggy Noonan said in her column, “This is the most volatile and tumultuous presidential primary race of our lifetimes.” I agree. Never have three different people won the first three primaries. Now Florida is likely to give a second win to one of them, probably Romney or Gingrich.

But that is not enough to win the nomination since delegates are drizzled out proportionately by how well each candidate does in these events. So all of them have a few delegates, but now it may take going on until March or beyond to accumulate enough.

Of course, this is also all about psychological warfare. If one of them looks unbeatable, the others will just drop out and concede. Then it’s a done deal.

Some are still hoping that someone else will enter the race. Chris Christie and Jeb Bush are once again being whispered about. Technically it could happen at the convention in August. It used to be so when no one would come to the convention with enough delegates. I personally doubt it will happen this time, but it is daunting that some Republicans don’t like any of the candidates this late in the game.

By the way, I’m not sure if having more and more debates is very productive. Maybe it’s the political geeks who are still interested, but at some point the public gets burned out and there are so many channels on cable and on the Internet with no politics. And, for those of us who love all politics all the time, we have heard all of this stuff at least five times. Unless the candidates start hamming it up more, become more outrageous and/or give us a better “show,” the ratings will go down.

And the question is, do we really want politics to become a four-ring circus?