So you are convinced this poll-predicted Romney win is primarily because the ads convinced all these Floridians Romney is more electable than Newt?
I thinks it is due to the fact that while does advertising work, the ads were cleverly designed to appeal to the unique Florida demographic, and Romney is a distinguished-looking man, especially to the targeted market.
Oh, certainly that is part of it, who knows, I guess we'd have to see a breakdown of the demo numbers before and after the ad campaign.
No, I think many voters were already thinking that Romney was the most electable and Gingrich's flat debate performance in Florida sealed it. THEN, yes, the ads had the effect of hardening that sentiment.
Remember that one of the huge demographics in Florida is seniors. Those folks were middle-aged when Newt was Speaker. They lived through the whole thing and they had already formed an opinion of Gingrich from (so to speak) personal experience.
That meant that anything that tended to reinforce observations they had already formed about Gingrich -- say, that he was prone to get into political trouble -- become doubly powerful.
And the stuff thrown at Gingrich is more easily viewed as affecting his electability as opposed to the stuff thrown at Romney.
I agree with you also that Romney's appearance (being more youthful and vibrant-looking) played a role, but again, probably because it boosted the perception that he's the more electable. Not only because he "looks good," but because he looks like he would be better able to endure the rigors of the campaign than Gingrich, who appeared almost exhausted and red-faced at the debate.