Today's developments are almost certain to have cemented Romney as the frontrunner in the race, and although Gingrich remains adamant the race remains open and possibly his to win, thoughts of a non-Romney candidacy should scarcely trouble Republicans from this point forward. I think my favorite moment in the weeks preceding this result would when Sarah Palin, that old fatuous opportunist I wouldn't trust to manage my pencil case, urged her brethren, "Vote for Newt Gingrich, Annoy a Liberal." If she had understood what a catastrophe Newt's candidacy would be for the GOP, like some of her more sensible comrades on the Right, she might have substituted annoy for please.
Alexander Burns on why Gingrich definitely won't quit (written prior to the result):
In simplest terms, will Gingrich, if he badly loses a bruising Florida slugfest, still have the mettle to answer the bell? Without a doubt, say those who know him best. Even his most bitter enemies will grant that Gingrich has self-motivational skills — a natural abundance of chutzpah to some — to spare. Laughing into the abyss is not an entirely new experience for a candidate who dragged his campaign along through sheer willpower last summer after his staff and consultants resigned.(Video: "The GOP presidential candidate and former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who finished well behind Mitt Romney in Florida's primary, says the race shows he's the best candidate to oppose Romney.")
Gingrich’s latest reversal of fortune is his most alarming yet, however: a defeat that threatens to erase his momentum from winning South Carolina and push national GOP support strongly toward Romney. Yet Gingrich has made a career out of upending conventional wisdom and ignoring the establishment view that he should go to the corner and shut up. In public and in private, sources close to Gingrich say he is preparing himself for another plunge into the breach — one more go-around of sewing up his wounds and forging ahead with a campaign that others have abandoned.