In Fla., a contest to define the GOP

"I just don't like some of the things Gingrich has done," said Young, 66, who spent decades as a yacht captain for the late Fitz Dixon, the Main Line multimillionaire who had a home in Palm Beach. "He's a little shady. . . . Of course, all politicians are shady. But I think Romney is our best bet. It will be tough to beat Obama."

But tea-party activist Michael Hurley has a wooden sign up on family property along U.S. 441 in Eustis, Fla. that reads, "Without God, it's 'One Nation Under.' " He said he was inclined to vote for Gingrich because Romney did not seem firm enough to him to halt the nation's drift.

Said Hurley, 65, a carpenter: "When they got off the Mayflower they didn't say, 'Where's the welfare office? Where's my food stamps?' "

Cain Endorses Gingrich

Herman Cain, who ended his presidential bid in early December, endorsed Newt Gingrich on Saturday night, three days before the crucial Florida primary.

"I hereby officially and enthusiastically endorse Newt Gingrich for president of the United States," Cain declared in a surprise appearance with Gingrich at the Lincoln Day dinner of the West Palm Beach County Republican Party.

Cain said that he knew what the "sausage grinder" of the presidential campaign was all about and that Gingrich was going through it now. "I am inspired," Cain said. "You are inspired."

Gingrich has also received the endorsement of another former presidential candidate, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas.

Cain, who suspended his campaign after reports that he had had a longtime affair, defended Gingrich earlier this month after CNN asked Gingrich at a debate about his former wife's assertion that they had had an open marriage.

"I loved Newt Gingrich's response because that's the same crap that they pulled on me, and that's what's wrong with politics," Cain said. "This is what's turning the American people off. What does something that happened 20 years ago relative to an ex-wife have to do with fixing America's problems today? Nothing."

- N.Y. Times News Service

Contact politics writer Thomas Fitzgerald at 215-854-2718 or tfitzgerald@phillynews.com or @tomfitzgerald on Twitter. Read his blog, "The Big Tent," at www.philly.com/BigTent.