Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigns at the Emma Lou Olson Civic Center, in Pompano Beach, Fla., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. (Associated Press)

Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney are squaring off in Florida’s primary on Tuesday. With Rick Santorum back in Pennsylvania and Ron Paul abstaining from the expensive Florida race, recent debates have centered on Romney and Gingrich.

Gingrich, whose candidacy has been declared dead twice in the race to the November election, has surged in the last week because of his surprise victory in the South Carolina primary. He appealed to evangelicals and the Christian Right in strong debate performances.

For the Romney campaign, Florida is a key test for the ex-governor’s national appeal. After barely losing Iowa and not appealing to the GOP base in South Carolina, Romney needs to win Florida to secure his position as the front-runner in the race.

Seeking to deliver a knockout blow to Gingrich’s upstart campaign, Romney and his campaign have attacked Gingrich’s record as speaker of the House and his work for mortgage giant Fannie Mae.

The Gingrich campaign has complained about the relentless assault of negative advertisements that Romney has shown in Florida.

Gingrich, in his usual aggressive style, has also attacked Romney for his not-so-conservative track record. As the governor of Massachusetts, Romney supported state-sponsored healthcare and gun control legislation.

The Florida primary will decide the future of the Gingrich campaign. The campaign will either gain steam or be unable to stay competitive in the long run of primaries to come.

Gingrich remains optimistic about his chances even though the latest polls show he is about 10 percent behind Romney.

“We’re seeing the conservative movement start to come together,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I think it’s going to be very close. We have a tremendous effort under way to reach out to the conservatives.”