The defeat was disastrous for Gingrich, whose campaign - like the candidate himself - seemed to melt down in the 10 days after his stunning win in South Carolina that initially appeared to plunge the GOP race into chaos.
Romney's margin of victory was so great - he was besting Gingrich, 46% to 32%, with 98% of precincts reporting - that major news outlets called the race the moment polls closed at 8 p.m.
And Romney proved in Florida for the first time that he could take a body blow - and come back swinging.
The ex-Massachusetts governor, reeling last week after getting trounced in South Carolina and having his Iowa win revoked, dug in for the hard fight in Florida, determined to make a statement in the Sunshine State.
"A competitive primary does not divide us, it prepares us, and we will win," Romney said at his Tampa victory rally, just a block from the arena that will host the Republican National Convention in August.
He then launched into President Obama. "Mr. President, you were elected to lead, you chose to follow, and now it is time to get out of the way."
"My leadership will end the Obama era and begin a new era of American prosperity," he added. "Together we will build an America where hope is a new job, not a faded word on a bumper sticker."
The win restored the Romney camp's favorite story line - that their candidate is the inevitable Republican nominee and is now set up to control the next month of GOP contests.
Romney is armed with a $20 million war chest that dwarfs those of his Republican rivals and a well-oiled campaign machine that - unlike that of his opponents - can wage battles in multiple states simultaneously.
Eying the next batch of contests - including Nevada, which holds its caucuses Saturday; Colorado; Arizona, and Michigan - on the February primary calendar, Romney has blanketed the states with ads and trotted out a slew of local endorsements.
In Florida, he blitzed the state with commercials - spending more than $15 million - and beat Gingrich at his own game in a pair of debates.
He also took off the gloves and slammed his rival at campaign stop after campaign stop, questioning the ex-speaker's links to controversial mortgage lender Freddie Mac, a hot-button issue in foreclosure-riddled Florida.
But more importantly, the size of Romney's blowout demolishes the longstanding talking point of critics that he's a weak candidate who can't attract more than 25% of the Republican electorate.
"You won't be hearing he can't win in the South anymore," a GOP political consultant who's neutral in this race said, "or that he isn't strong enough to run a national race. He restored his credibility as a candidate today."
Romney's cakewalk sent Gingrich reeling - and threatened to derail his campaign.
As defeat seemed inevitable in recent days, Gingrich sounded a familiar cry: blaming his defeat on the negative ads paid for by Romney and his super PAC supporters.
"There's nothing like $17.5 million of false ads to make a big difference," Gingrich moaned several times this week, echoing his excuse from his fourth-place finish in Iowa in early January.
Gingrich, whose campaign seemed unfocused and lurching in Florida, faces a tough road ahead. He lacks the campaign cash to compete with Romney in every state, and he was unable to even get on the ballot in Virginia. Still, Gingrich has vowed to keep fighting and pledged to contest every remaining primary.
"We are going to contest every place and we are going to win," Gingrich said at a sparsely attended primary night party in Orlando, "and we are going to be in Tampa as the nominee in August."
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