Steve Moore to Newsmax: Romney Must Win Florida

Steve Moore, a member of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board and former president for the Club for Growth, told Newsmax TV on Tuesday that it’s “absolutely imperative” Mitt Romney wins the key battleground state of Florida if he has any chance of winning the White House.

“I think it is pretty obvious that Mitt Romney absolutely, positively, has to win Florida,” Moore said. “Otherwise, I am just looking at the numbers of 50 percent — it is almost exactly tied. Florida is an absolute must and there is no way that Republicans can win the White House if they do not win Florida.”

He also pointed to Ohio and North Carolina as key states to watch. “We are going to know within the next couple of hours whether this is going to be a race that Mitt Romney can win right now, but the numbers are looking pretty good,” he said.

Meanwhile, exit polls have produced conflicting assessments thus far in Tuesday’s election. At least one exit poll shows that voters are more comfortable with Romney handling the economy, while other polls indicate that voters are more comfortable with Obama at the helm, Moore said.

“There are ones that I saw that had Mitt Romney with not a huge lead in terms of that with the economy — a lead where the one that I saw was 55-45 (percent). That may not be enough,” said Moore. “Obama could actually handle the economy better given the last four years, but that makes me a little bit nervous because some of these other issues are not a strong hit for Romney.”

He added that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has retained enough Senate seats to be an obstacle for a Romney administration should the Republican overcome what appears to be an early trend for the president.

“I think if Harry Reid wants to basically be a total obstacle to reform than he probably has the votes to do that,” Moore said. “We will see whether the will of the people is for some of these newly elected senators to get with the program.”

He added that Romney would have to seek a voter mandate to succeed in cutting tax rates, repealing Obamacare, and getting entitlements under control.

“I happen to think that if he wins, he will have a voter mandate,” said Moore. “That is what this correction has been about.”