Debbie Wasserman Schultz statement on the results of the Florida Republican primary

 Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz released the following statement tonight on the results of the Florida Republican primary:

“Mitt Romney’s victory tonight in the Florida GOP primary comes as no surprise – Romney and his Super PAC outspent his nearest opponent by running 13,000 ads to Newt Gingrich's 200, carpet- bombing the airwaves with negative ads. In fact, Romney’s campaign has already spent more on negative ads than John McCain did during his entire presidential run.

“Tonight, Romney was successful in buying his way to victory – but with every passing Republican contest, he becomes weaker with key general election swing and independent voters should he make it that far. That’s because Mitt Romney has made it clear he will say anything, take any position on any given day and before any given audience and will distort any fact about his or his opponents' record to win.

"But voters are paying more attention than Mitt Romney gives them credit for. They know he has declared support for both an extreme Tea Party agenda that would gut Social Security and Medicare and a budget plan that would end Medicare as we know it and shifts costs onto the backs of America’s seniors. They also know Romney has doubled down on his incredibly out-of-touch positions of letting foreclosures hit the bottom and expanding tax breaks to the wealthiest few at the expense of the middle class. And despite his double-speak in Florida, Mitt Romney has done nothing to dissuade voters from the notion that he is the most anti-immigrant significant major party candidate for president in generations.

"The reason Mitt Romney's negatives have soared with independent voters nationally and in key states, even as he has won one contest on his home field and bought his way to victory in another, is because the more voters learn about his extreme and out of touch positions the less they like him and the less they trust him to lead."