Declaring that he is ready to bring an end to the Obama era, Mitt Romney relished his easy win in the Florida primary Tuesday by quickly dismissing his Republican rivals and tearing into the White House’s current occupant.

“Three years ago this week, a newly elected President Obama faced the American people and said that if he couldn’t turn the economy around in three years, he’d be looking at a one-term proposition,” Romney reminded his supporters Tuesday night in Tampa. “We’re here to collect.”

The former Massachusetts governor, relieved to put behind him the momentum-halting loss he suffered in the South Carolina primary, tried to sound presidential in his Florida victory speech. His focus on President Barack Obama recalled Romney’s original primary strategy to look past the rest of the GOP field. But his goal to appear to rise above the primary fray got sidetracked by Newt Gingrich’s surprise South Carolina win.

For the past week Romney put aside most of his anti-Obama rhetoric and primarily attacked the rest of Republican field. That paid off, particularly in two Florida debates during which Romney delivered a series of verbal blows to Gingrich.

Romney defeated Gingrich by 14 percentage points, 46 percent to 32 percent. Rick Santorum, with 13 percent, ran a distant third, while Ron Paul received 7 percent of the vote.

Significantly, Romney made a statement in Florida by winning more votes than Gingrich and Santorum combined. During his victory speech, Romney tried to begin to put behind the intraparty rivalry.

“As this primary unfolds, our opponents in the other party have been watching,” he said. “They like to comfort themselves with the thought that a competitive campaign will leave us divided and weak. But I’ve got some news for them: A competitive primary does not divide us; it prepares us.” … MORE >>

Read Edward Lee Pitts’ complete Web Extra report.

Outside a quiet Hawaiian BBQ restaurant in South Brooklyn sits a Harley Davidson with the words “Clergy” in white across the windscreen.

It belongs to Rick Del Rio, a pastor sporting black jeans, a black T-shirt, and two silver hook earrings. His ministry began in 1982, when he bought a truck, transformed it to a stage, and painted “Jesus loves you New York City” on the side. Then he asked the cops to point him toward the worst part of town. “Avenue D and 3rd Street,” they answered, an area known for shootings, drugs, and prostitution.

His team of family and friends started regularly canvasing the Lower East Side armed with Christian rock music and food. They preached the gospel, but also provided one-on-one counseling and free food to gang members, homeless people, and prostitutes alike.

Over time, they started earning the respect and trust of the community. City officials starting taking notice. They called him to intervene in gang-related violence late one night in 1993. He arrived to discover a group of teen gangsters riled up to retaliate for a shooting. “I called my wife and told her to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and hot chocolate,” Del Rio recalled. “I was bringing a gang home.”

They sat in his house for the next few hours venting and cursing. “One thing the city doesn’t understand is that relationships are built off mutual respect,” Del Rio explained. “These kids just needed someone to listen to them … they don’t have anyone.”

Del Rio listened and offered advice, eventually talking them out of the shooting. He’s been an official clergy liaison ever since, and in 1992 he started Abounding Grace Ministries, a small church that meets in a lower Manhattan public school.

But due to the recent ban forbidding religious organizations from using public schools, Abounding Grace Ministries will have to move. Providentially, a church has opened its doors for them until late March. Del Rio is hopeful that efforts to overturn the ban will be successful by then, and they’ll be able to continue meeting in P.S. 34. … MORE >>

Read Tiffany Owens’ complete WORLD New York report.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Mitt Romney won a commanding victory in the Florida primary Tuesday night, rebounding from defeat and taking a significant step toward the Republican presidential nomination. Despite the setback, Newt Gingrich vowed to press on.

Returns from 38 percent of Florida’s precincts showed Romney with 48 percent of the vote, to 31 percent for Gingrich.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum had 13 percent, and Texas Rep. Ron Paul 7 percent. Neither mounted a substantial effort in the state.

The winner-take-all primary was worth 50 Republican National Convention delegates.

© 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Look for a WORLDmag.com Web Extra report from Washington Bureau chief Edward Lee Pitts later this evening.

Have you seen crime dramas where the police start to close in on a killer? In the 1930s, the gangster would say, “You dirty rats, you’ll never take me alive.” In 2012, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, which has taken so many unborn lives, issues a press release expressing “deep disappointment in response to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation’s decision to stop funding breast cancer prevention, screenings, and education at Planned Parenthood health centers.”

Here’s today’s news: The Komen foundation is notifying Planned Parenthood affiliates that it will not give them more money for breast cancer programs. Clearly, this does not reflect any change in Komen’s attitude toward breast cancer. It does reflect a realization that contributions are fungible, so that cash sent to one program is an aid to Planned Parenthood’s moneymaker, abortion—and abortion is losing its mainstream support.

Komen contributed $680,000 to Planned Parenthood last year. In the short run, Planned Parenthood can make up part of the difference. Its press release quoted Amy and Lee Fikes: Their family foundation has just granted Planned Parenthood $250,000 so it “can continue to put the real needs of women ahead of right wing ideology.”

Some of the “right wing ideology” came from Life Decisions International, which includes the Komen foundation on its “boycott list” of companies and organizations that support or collaborate with Planned Parenthood. … MORE >>

Read Marvin Olasky’s complete Web Extra report.

Occupy Oakland protesters reclaimed the news spotlight after a demonstration last weekend led to 400 arrests and significant damages to City Hall. But as images showed protesters breaking into City Hall, trashing parts of the building, and burning an American flag on its steps, the group now faces growing criticism—even from its own members.

City Hall reopened Monday as Oakland officials decried Occupy’s latest string of wreckage: Damage to the City Hall plaza alone has cost the cash-strapped city an estimated $2 million since October, according to Mayor Jean Quan, with another $2 million spent on police overtime and other policing agencies called in to help. At a news conference, a toughened Quan condemned Occupy protesters for their “constant provocation of police with a lot of violence toward them,” while urging them to “stop using Oakland as its playground.” She also said the city is requesting stay-away orders for about 100 demonstrators who have been arrested numerous times.

Meanwhile Occupy Oakland is fighting back, calling the police arrests of about 400 demonstrators Saturday “completely illegal” and vowing lawsuits. The group’s website requested bail fund donations and announced a protest next Monday against police action.

But an unapologetic interim police chief Howard Jordan said officers used tear gas, smoke, and beanbag projectiles to thwart a crowd of about 500 protesters who attempted to break into the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center. Earlier in the week Occupy organizers said they planned to use the empty building as their new headquarters.

Police reports say protesters ignored officers’ orders to disperse and some threw rocks and bottles at them, injuring three officers. “It became clear that the objective of this crowd was not to peacefully assemble and march, but to seek opportunity to further criminal acts,” Jordan said at a news conference. He added that while police officers responded to the Occupy protests, the department had difficulty addressing the night’s 1,776 calls for service, including 482 calls to 911. … MORE >>

Read Mary Jackson’s complete WORLD California report.

The breakaway Episcopal congregations in Virginia, who left in 2006 over the American denomination’s liberal theology, have lost the latest round in the legal battle over the church property. Some have warned their members to expect to move within a few months.

In a 113-page ruling issued Jan. 10, Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy Bellows reversed a ruling he made in 2008 giving custody to the conservative congregations. The Virginia Supreme Court overturned that ruling in 2010 and ordered a new trial.

At issue is ownership of seven Virginia churches, including two prominent, historic congregations that trace their roots to George Washington: Truro Church in Fairfax and The Falls Church, for which the city of Falls Church is named. But it is not clear that the denomination, on the verge of finally winning the battle that began in 2006, has either the members or the money to keep operating the churches themselves.

The disputes within the Episcopal Church have raged openly since 2003, when the denomination consecrated an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire who had left his wife. The issues have since broadened to a range of theological issues, including fundamental interpretations of Scripture.

The lawsuit itself has been winding its way through the courts since 2007, shortly after Truro and The Falls Church voted overwhelmingly in December 2006 to break away from The Episcopal Church and align with the conservative Convocation of Anglicans in North America, a group supported by the Anglican Church of Nigeria.

The Episcopal Church, with about 2 million members, is a U.S. affiliate of the Anglican Communion, which has 77 million members worldwide. Many of the international branches in the Anglican church, especially those in Africa, are far more theologically conservative than the American and British wings. … MORE >>

Read Les Sillars and Grace Dobbs’ complete WORLD Virginia report.

Super Bowl Sunday: The day America stops. For four hours in the evening, millions of Americans will be gathered together around televisions to watch the pinnacle game of the National Football League season. I will be among them because football is more than just a game for me; it’s an old friend.

I have loved football since my peewee playing days at Pearl Park in Minneapolis. I fell in love with the Minnesota Vikings during the same time period while growing up just a few blocks from the Metrodome where they play (and have since felt like a lover scorned more often than not). It is not just playing the game that I love, nor is it the Vikings. No, it is the game itself with all of its aggression, drama, skill, passion, competition, and spectacular displays of athleticism.

But just as much as I love football, others of you dislike it or simply don’t care about it. Your passions might be for music, literature, cooking, art, technology, gaming, or any of a million pastimes. And that is fine and good.

But I make one request of you: For one day a year, and one day only, be a football fan.

Be a fan for one day for a single purpose: People. Football draws people like moths to a porch light, and through football you can connect with people. There isn’t another social or entertainment event during the year that draws people like the Super Bowl. So take advantage of it!

For one evening take off the earbuds, turn off the Xbox, close the book, and go to a Super Bowl party. Or host one. Or crash one. Just be a part of what people are doing! It doesn’t matter that you don’t like football, don’t care about football, or don’t know about football. Share the food, enjoy the commercials, cringe at the halftime show, and give a football fan the opportunity to show off his knowledge of the game.

As Christians, we are called to love people, to know them well, to care about them. We’re also called to be in community. Our Sabbath day is devoted to worship and fellowship. Does a Super Bowl party fulfill those callings? Not entirely, but it can be fantastic, strategic, fun way to take a step toward obeying. Super Bowl Sunday is an event that transcends fandom and is culturally iconic, so I ask you to transcend your interests. For one day, for a few hours, be a football fan for the sake of knowing and loving people well.

Editor’s note: Associate publisher Warren Cole Smith takes us on a video tour of the Feb. 11 issue of WORLD. Keep watching: There’s a special offer to non-subscribers at the end.

WORLD Magazine: Feb. 11, 2012 / Vol. 27, Issue 3 from WORLD News Group on Vimeo.

One of the memorable slogans from the Reagan administration was “peace through strength.” Reagan believed a strong defense was a safeguard against enemy attacks and the best hope of victory should America go to war.

President Obama is taking the opposite approach. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta recently announced cuts in defense spending of $487 billion over the next 10 years. Supposedly, these cuts will reduce the federal deficit, but Congress always finds new ways to spend money, so I am not optimistic.

The cuts were announced before critical questions were asked: What is America’s role in the world in the 21st century? Where does the military fit into that role? The administration thinks a sleeker, more mobile military—like SEAL Team Six, which has had recent successes taking out Osama bin Laden and rescuing hostages from Somali pirates—is the way to go, but even the highly trained SEALs can’t confront, say, a nuclear threat from Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or China’s increasing military power. The administration says it will preserve its manpower and weapons systems in the Middle East and shift resources to Asia.

Ships and planes take time to build. If America is not building them to ward off present and future threats, someone else—like the Chinese—will. The world does not remain stagnant and threats are not always obvious.

Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., chairman of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, says he is “deeply concerned” by the announced defense reductions, including the elimination of “at least 12 new Navy ships over the next five years and retiring at least nine ships earlier than planned.”

Akin also worries about what will happen to the estimated 100,000 soldiers and Marines who will become unemployed in a struggling economy.

According to the website USGovernmentSpending.com, defense spending fluctuated in the last century. It hit a peak of 42 percent of gross domestic product during World War II, declining to 10 percent during the Cold War to about 5 percent today.

Reagan’s defense buildup followed cuts during the Carter administration. Reagan increased defense spending from 5.6 percent of GDP in 1979 to 7 percent of GDP by 1986. President George W. Bush’s administration increased defense spending from 3.6 percent of GDP near the end of the Clinton administration in 1999 to 6 percent in 2010 to confront Islamic extremism.

The Obama administration, usgovernmentspending.com adds, plans to drop defense spending to 4.6 percent of GDP by 2015.

Do these reductions parallel a decline in the threats against America and American interests? Quite the opposite. The administration engages in wishful thinking about the so-called “Arab Spring,” which is devolving into a religious tornado, with the radical Muslim Brotherhood calling the shots in Egypt and elsewhere, and the Taliban poised to regain control in Afghanistan.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai have agreed that NATO should pull out all combat forces from Afghanistan by next year, not 2014, as planned. This can only encourage the Taliban, who have recently been sending signals they are not the bad guys most people rightly think they are.

A recent Wall Street Journal story noted that public statements by the Taliban make them sound more “moderate,” adding, “The big unknown is whether this new rhetoric represents a meaningful transformation—or is merely designed to sugarcoat the Taliban’s real aims.”

It’s a safe bet to say it’s the latter.

The “big unknown” is what a sound U.S. defense strategy should take into account. As former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld once put it, “There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns … there are some things we de not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”

It is to protect not only against the “known knowns,” but the “unknown unknowns” that a credible defense strategy should be maintained. Cutting our defenses without a plan of action is an invitation to war.

© 2012 Tribune Media Services Inc.

Just one week ago it looked like Newt Gingrich was poised to continue the momentum he gained from his victory in the South Carolina primary and make life difficult for Mitt Romney in Florida.

But one week is a long time in the world of presidential politics.

Buoyed by two surprisingly strong Florida debate performances, the state’s more diverse electorate, and campaign cash that no other candidate can match, Romney has surged to a comfortable double-digit lead in most polls heading into Tuesday’s Florida primary.

“It feels good at this point,” said Romney, who is aiming to beat former Gingrich by a margin at least as big as the former House speaker’s 12-point South Carolina win. “In South Carolina, the crowds were good, but you could sense that it wasn’t going our way. Here, the crowds are good, and you can sense it’s coming our way. It’s getting better and better every day.”

During campaign stops Monday, Romney couldn’t resist taking multiple jabs at Gingrich: “Send him to the moon,” the former Massachusetts governor shouted to supporters, alluding to Gingrich’s recent talk in support of a moon mission.

“You know, I know the speaker’s not very happy, Speaker Gingrich, he’s not feeling very excited these days,” Romney continued. “I know, it’s sad; he’s been flailing around a bit trying to go after me for one thing or the other. You just watch, and you shake your head.”

For his part, Gingrich spent the final hours of the Florida campaign trying to rally his troops with impassioned speeches about religion under attack.

“I think we need to have a government that respects our religions,” Gingrich said Monday. “I’m a little bit tired of being lectured on respecting every other religion on the planet. I want them to respect our religion.” … MORE >>

Read Edward Lee Pitts’ complete Web Extra report.