Mitt Romney's lead is 20 in a new Suffolk University/7NEWS (WSVN-Miami) poll of likely Republican voters in Tuesday's Florida primary.

The former Massachusetts governor had 47 percent, while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had 27 percent. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum got 12 percent, while Texas Rep. Ron Paul had 9 percent.

“It is almost certain that Mitt Romney will top his 39 percent showing in New Hampshire,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center in Boston. “This poll also tells us that Romney could reverse and exceed Newt Gingrich’s percentage and margin in South Carolina – and do it in Gingrich’s backyard.”

Total spending on ads for Florida's Republican primary is more than $24 million, NBC reported Monday, most of it by Mitt Romney and his supporters.

Here's the breakdown on major candidates from NBC/Smart Media Group Delta:

-- Ads for Romney: $15.9 million. Romney campaign has spent $7 million. Restore Our Future, a SuperPAC supporting Romney, has spent $8.9 million.

--Ads for Newt Gingrich: $4 million. Gingrich campaign has spent $1.2 million. Winning Our Future, a SuperPAC supporting him, has spent $2.8 million.

Mitt Romney has been running ad this weekend featuring a 1997 clip of Tom Brokaw, then the NBC Nightly News anchorman, describing Newt Gingrich's ethics reprimand.

Pull the NBC content, the network asked Saturday, and Brokaw also objected.

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"I am extremely uncomfortable with the extended use of my personal image in this political ad," he said. "I do not want my role as a journalist compromised for political gain by any campaign."

 No comment from the Romney campaign yet.

 Mitt Romney's now using former "NBC Nightlly News" anchor Tom Brokaw to help make the case against Newt Gingrich.

In an ad released Saturday, Romney, vying for the GOP presidential nomination against the former House Speaker and two othres, brings up the 1997 House of Representatives vote to reprimand Gingrich for ethical lapses.

In the ad, the viewer sees Brokaw delivering the news that night:

“Good evening. Newt Gingrich, who came to power, after all, preaching a higher standard in American politics, a man who brought down another speaker on ethics accusations, tonight he has on his own record the judgment of his peers, Democrat and Republican alike. By an overwhelming vote, they found him guilty of ethics violations; they charged him a very large financial penalty, and they raised – several of them – raised serious questions about his future effectiveness.”

Nancy Pelosi, former House Speaker and now minority leader, makes it clear what she thinks of Newt Gingrich's prospects for becoming president: Not going to happen, she told CNN's John King.

Here's the transcript:

KING:  Because of your history with Speaker Gingrich, what goes through your mind when you think about the possibility, which is more real today than it was a week or a month ago, that he would be the Republican nominee and that you could come back here next January or next February with a President Gingrich?

PELOSI:  Let me just say this.  That will never happen. 

KING:  Why? 

PELOSI:  He's not going to be president of the United States.  This is -- that's not going to happen.  Let me just make my prediction and stand by it.  It isn't going to happen. 

KING:  Why are you so sure? 

PELOSI:  There's something I know.  The Republicans, if they choose to nominate him, that's the prerogative.  I don't even think that's going to happen. 

Mitt Romney said Sunday he will release his 2010 tax returns and an estimate of his 2011 return on Tuesday, and said his reluctance to release them was a "mistake."

He's trying to defuse a controversy that dogged him throughout last week's South Carolina primary campaign. Romney said he would release the returns when they are completed in April, but appeared flustered during debates when asked about the release.

Sunday, after being crushed by Newt Gingrich in South Carolina's primary, the former Massachusetts governor told "Fox News Sunday" that on Tuesday, "you'll have two years and people can take a look at it.

"We'll put them on the web site and you can go through the pages", Romney said. "I think we just made a mistake holding off as long as we did. If it was a distraction, we want to get back to the real issues in the campaign."

Romney was asked why he's only releasing two years of data. He said his release "will provide, I think, plenty of information for people to understand that sources of my income are exactly as described in the financial disclosure statements that we put out several months ago."

He has his income in recent years has come largely from investments, not earned income. Since Bush-era tax cuts went into effect, capital gains and dividends are taxed at a 15 percent rate. Top rate on ordinary income is 35 percent. Romney said he thought he paid at a 15 percent rate.

But it's unclear if he paid a smaller percentage because of deducations. Romney's wealth has been estimated at between $190 million and $250 million.

"We pay full, fair taxes," Romney said Sunday, "and you'll see it is a substantial amount."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has a double-digit lead over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in Saturday's South Carolina primary, according to a new poll.

Here's the release from the American Research Group, which conducted the survey Thursday and Friday:

Newt Gingrich leads the South Carolina Republican presidential primary with 40% and is followed by Mitt Romney with 26%, Ron Paul with 18%, and Rick Santorum with 13%.

Gingrich has gained 7 percentage points since the survey conducted January 17-18 and Romney has lost 6 percentage points since that survey.

Gingrich leads Romney 47% to 24% among self-identified Republicans, followed by Paul and Santorum with 14% each. Paul leads among independents and Democrats with 33%, followed by Romney with 31%, Gingrich with 18%, and Santorum with 10%.

Gingrich leads among those likely primary voters saying they are supporters of the Tea Party with 48%, followed by Romney with 19%, Santorum with 16%, and Paul with 14%. Gingrich leads with 33% among those saying they are not supporters of the Tea Party or are undecided about the Tea Party, followed by Romney with 31%, and Paul with 22%.

Gingrich leads Romney among men 38% to 25%, followed by Paul with 21%. Among women, Gingrich leads Romney 42% to 26%, followed by Paul with 16%, and Santorum with 13%.

Gingrich leads Romney 43% to 24% among likely Republican primary voters saying they will definitely vote.

Details from the survey of 600 likely Republican primary voters conducted January 19-20, 2012 can be found here.

Newt Gingrich leads the latest Clemson University Palmetto Poll by 6 percentage points over Mitt Romney, and Clemson political scientists David Woodard says Gingrich should win Saturday's primary.

Here's some of the release from the poll, taken Wednesday and Thursday:

The poll is "a sample of 429 South Carolina GOP voters who indicated they plan to vote Saturday. The telephone poll was initiated Jan. 13 and recalibrated Jan. 18-19 to measure changing dynamics. Twenty percent of the likely voters remain undecided.

“We expect a reaction by the electorate to the personal revelations about Gingrich to be registered on Saturday, however, we do not think it will be substantial enough to erase the lead Gingrich has over Romney,” said Clemson University political scientist Dave Woodard. 

“Our head-to-head matchup of the candidates has consistently shown Mitt Romney competitive. The margin for Romney has evaporated this week, and we believe that Gingrich — who led our December poll with 38 percent to Romney’s 21 percent — will win the South Carolina primary,” he said.      

Among poll respondents who had chosen or were leaning toward a candidate, this third Palmetto Poll showed Newt Gingrich (32 percent) leading the field over Mitt Romney (26 percent), up slightly from a month ago. Ron Paul came in third (11 percent), about even with his December poll rating. Rick Santorum remained in fourth place (9 percent), despite a significant jump over his ranking last month.

After choosing a candidate, respondents gave a wide variety of answers as to what they liked most about the person they selected, but the two most popular appeared to be: “he has honesty and integrity” and “his overall political ideology” — meaning conservative principles. 

“Much has been made of the ‘electability’ issue of the candidates, but in our poll the response: ‘He has the best chance of beating President Barack Obama,’” was the fourth choice of voters, after “‘He has better ideas for strengthening the economy,’” said Clemson political scientist Bruce Ransom.

The Clemson University Palmetto Poll, sponsored by the Strom Thurmond Institute, the College of Business and Behavioral Science and the Department of Public Affairs, had a plus or minus 4.73 percent margin of error.

In a major reversal, Iowa's Republican Party reports today that Rick Santorum actually won the Iowa caucuses, not Mitt Romney as reported.

The party is saying that a closer look reveals that 8 precincts cannot be accurately counted and will be discarded.

The result is that Santorum won by 34 votes, instead of Romney winning by 8 votes, according to the Des Moines Register.

Rick Santorum is now ahead of Mitt Romney in new results from the Jan. 3 Iowa caucus. But officially, no one won, the Des Moines Register reported Thursday, as some results are still missing.

Romney had apparently won on election night by an eight vote margin, but a recount found otherwise. But questions linger.

Here's some of the Register's report:

"Rick Santorum – Final total: 29,839 Change: -168
Mitt Romney – Final total: 29,805 Change: -210

It’s a tie for the ages.

There are too many holes in the certified totals from the Iowa caucuses to know for certain who won, but Rick Santorum wound up with a 34-vote advantage.

Results from eight precincts are missing — any of which could hold an advantage for Mitt Romney — and will never be recovered and certified, Republican Party of Iowa officials told The Des Moines Register on Wednesday.

GOP officials discovered inaccuracies in 131 precincts, although not all the changes affected the two leaders. Changes in one precinct alone shifted the vote by 50 — a margin greater than the certified tally.

The certified numbers: 29,839 for Santorum and 29,805 for Romney. The turnout: 121,503.