Palin: Romney's $17 million in ads bought 'some false narrative' in Florida

By Justin Sink - 01/31/12 10:30 PM ET

Former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said that Mitt Romney's aggressive campaign spending in the Sunshine State allowed him to buy a "false narrative" that propelled him to victory in Florida's pivotal primary.

"I think that with $17 million purchasing some ads and some false narrative it was very, very difficult for Newt Gingrich and the other candidates to counter that bombardment of advertisements," Palin said Tuesday night on Fox News.

Palin cautioned that negative campaigning could ultimately hurt the Republican nominee in the general election.

"$17 million spent in one state, that purchased a lot of darts and arrows that were flown in one direction and then a lot of darts and arrows were flown back and you know a lot of that negativity sure didn't paint the party and the cause in very attractive colors," Palin said. "I think that hurts the electorate and ultimately diminishes the energy necessary to move forward in the general election."

The former Alaska governor said that voters turned off by the attack ads might stay home in November.

"I think that, added to a process that thus far has not been very attractive to the electorate," Palin said, "is unfortunately what keeps good people from wanting to run for office and wanting to be engaged in our own government process of electing our leaders."

Palin, who has said that she would vote for Gingrich in both the South Carolina and Florida primary — but has not formally endorsed — argued that voters in Nevada should adopt a similar strategy to prolong the GOP race.

"Whomever it is to allow for the process to continue … I still say competition breeds success for the U.S.," Palin said. "As it stands obviously it's Romney and Newt are closest to be the front-running candidate, and so I would continue to vote for whoever it is to allow the process, and at this point it looks like it still is Newt. You have to kind of continue to level the playing field with your vote."