Firebrand ex-Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL), running to reclaim his seat in 2012, told TPM that Mitt Romney’s fans shouldn’t get too excited about his Tuesday win. The real issue was Gingrich’s lousy campaign.

“I think that in the end the Not-Romney vote was unwilling to coalesce around Newt Gingrich,” Grayson said. “His flaws, politically and personally, become more obvious as it went on and it’s a personal rejection of him. There’s tremendous reservation about Romney, the majority are not happy with the choices left.”

Either way, he said, the GOP is leaving Florida worse than it arrived.

“I think there has been lasting damage,” he said. “I think that when Newt Gingrich parades around the country saying Mitt Romney is a liar and Mitt Romney parades around country saying Newt Gingrich is a liar, the conclusion most people draw is they’re both liars.”

Grayson cited Romney’s ongoing tax return issues as his biggest impediment going forward and predicted he’d have a tough time repairing his brand with general election voters.

“Newt’s negatives are astronomical — they’re approaching his name recognition at this point — and Romney’s are also very high. I doubt we’ll see them go down,” he said. “Mitt romney has been exposed, like a character out of Orphan Annie, Daddy Warbucks, as an enormously wealthy person out of touch with ordinary Americans who simply wants to be president, as far as we can tell, because he wants to be President.”