Man, I should work for a tabloid with headlines like that

"America's Mayor", Rudy Giuliani had pinned his hopes of gaining the Republican nomination on the Florida primary. He'd forgone the prior - smaller - caucuses and primaries to focus on the big states, of which Florida went to the polls first yesterday.

Had it worked, he would have gone down as a genius of election strategy - irrespective of how he had fared against whomever becomes the Democrat nominee.

It didn't work. Yesterday, Giuliani came a distant third in Florida behind Senator McCain and former Governor Romney. After this, it's hard to see him continuing in the race and the obvious candidate for him to endorse is McCain.

Mike Huckabee finished fourth in Florida and remains defiantly in the race although, like Giuliani, it's hard to see him coming out on top now, although everything could change on Super Tuesday of course. It's hard to discern who Huckabee would endorse were he to withdraw. As a southern Baptist, he'll be distrustful of the Mormon Romney and the generally moderate McCain.

Senator Clinton won the merely symbolic Democrat primary - no delegates from Florida will be permitted to vote at the Democratic convention.

More analysis of McCain's win in Florida and the Super Tuesday implications.