Well, I would add Iowa to Florida, and there you do have it. Mitt so obsessed with Newt he jumped the financial and shamelessness sharks in Iowa and Florida - and Rick snuck in by default. Both Newt and Mitt's campaigns were blind to not see that coming. I remember screaming at the TV in the first Florida debate thinking "Newt WTF are you doing?"
Much of Santorum’s support is an ABR bubble that built up after Florida. Newt appeared wounded, and some of his support went Rick’s way. How else do you explain Rick’s meteoric rise from the low teens to low thirties?