Gingrich vows to put pressure on Santorum

Newt Gingrich has lost his "must-win" states, but seems to be staying in the race - and keeping delegates away from Rick Santorum. Newt Gingrich says he will remain in the race, and he believes the combination of delegates being amassed by him, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul will keep Mitt Romney from hitting the magic number of 1,144 delegates needed to win the Republican nomination for president. Speaking on a local Alabama radio show on Tuesday morning, the former House speaker said there is an advantage to using a "tag-team" approach to defeating Romney, the current front-runner. "With Rick and me together, we are really slowing him down, with some help frankly from Ron Paul," Gingrich told the radio hosts. "The country is sort of saying, a majority is saying, `Not Romney.' The biggest bloc is saying Romney, but it's not a big enough bloc to be a majority. We now are beginning to think he will literally not be able to get the delegates to get the nomination." Gingrich's comment came as Santorum said on Glenn Beck's radio program on Tuesday that his rival has "really shown no ability to get votes outside of the state of Georgia," and that "it would be great if he would get out of the race because clearly the vast majority of the votes that he is taking are coming from me." CBS News HIGHLIGHTS Newt Gingrich long touted himself as the candidate who would play strongest in the South. After losses in Alabama and Mississippi to Rick Santorum on Tuesday, that no longer rings true. Huffington Post Gingrich finished second in Mississippi and, as of midnight, was in a near-tie in Alabama with Romney. He said that he expects to get a good number of delegates as the campaign grinds on and that he will grow stronger moving forward. Huffington Post Romney, though, isn't considered the one hurt by Gingrich remaining in the race. More likely, Gingrich pulls conservative Republican support from Santorum, who said earlier Tuesday that he is making it "hard for me to win those states." Exit polling from Alabama and Mississippi showed those identifying as very conservative largely split between Gingrich and Santorum. Huffington Post What is clear, as many observers are noting, is that if Newt Gingrich had not still been in the race then Santorum's victory over Mitt Romney in the two southern states would have been overwhelming. Last week Gingrich's spokesman, RC Hammond, made clear that his man had to win in both Alabama and Mississippi to remain a credible candidate. Telegraph Santorum's hopes of doing it are very much reliant on Gingrich pulling out and then being able to deny Romney the required delegate total. In that situation Santorum could argue that he is the best conservative with momentum and deserves the nomination. He remains a long shot, but one that might just come off.