By JONATHAN MARTIN, January 26, 2012, Politico.com

TAMPA, Fla. — As the Republican race moves to a state defined by the extremes in recession-era America — where the underwater and unemployed live just a few miles from the 1 percent — a sharp class divide is emerging between the two top contenders.

Mitt Romney’s crowds look like something out of the president’s suite at a University of Florida football game — prosperous, trim, Tattersall-clad and supportive but not rowdy.

Newt Gingrich supporters, with their spray-painted signs, American flag tees, flip-flops and fanny packs, more closely resemble a group that would fit in nicely playing a few bucks at the dog track.

Exit poll data and unmistakable anecdotal evidence from their events reflects an unfolding campaign in which Romney does best with voters that are a lot like him — wealthy, well-educated and lukewarm about the populist tea party movement. Gingrich is appealing most to Republicans who earn less than six figures, make up the core of the middle class, and are worried about their economic prospects and furious at the establishment.

It’s the tea party and the cocktail party.

Diann Franks was recently laid off from J.C. Penney.

Wearing khakis, black New Balance tennis shoes, a worn brown leather jacket and fanny pack, she came to the event carrying a copy of a Gingrich book.

“Just in general, we need a leader,” Franks said. “Somebody who can just put their foot down and say, ‘We’re mad as … and we’re not taking it anymore.’”

The sense of anger is palpable among Gingrich’s middle-class supporters. They’re often fearful about their own financial situation and think D.C. doesn’t need to be changed — it needs to be blown up. READ...