Gingrich on GOP race: 'It's not over'

NEWARK, Del. -- Newt Gingrich said yesterday it's still possible for him to win the GOP presidential nomination.

"It's not over and he has not won it yet," he said, speaking of Mitt Romney, who moved closer to claiming the nomination a day earlier because his chief rival, Rick Santorum, dropped out of the race.

"It's very clear that Romney does not, today, have the majority of the delegates," Gingrich said. He is correct that Romney does not yet have the 1,144 delegates it takes to win the nomination at the Republican National Convention, but the former Massachusetts governor already has more than half that.

Gingrich trails significantly and would need to win 94 percent of the remaining delegates before the August convention, according to an Associated Press analysis. That's an impossible task because most states use proportional systems to award delegates.

The former House speaker has not won delegates since March 13. But he said yesterday that he would do better in upcoming contests, now that Santorum is no longer running.

Gingrich vowed to campaign until the convention in Tampa, Fla., saying he wants to help the GOP reflect a "21st century conservatism."

Romney, meanwhile, intensified his efforts Wednesday to rebut claims that he and fellow Republicans are insufficiently supportive of women.

For the second day, the presumptive nominee campaigned at a female-owned work site, denouncing Democrats for saying his party is waging "a war on women." "The real war on women is being waged by the president's failed economic policies," he told a crowd packed inside Alpha Graphics, in Hartford.

The event underscored Romney's sensitivity to Democrats' efforts linking him to GOP-led efforts to limit birth control insurance coverage in some workplaces, among other things.

Polls have found Obama's advantage among women is outpacing Romney's edge among men.

A conference call with reporters arranged by Romney's campaign hit a snag Wednesday when aides were asked whether he supports the Lilly Ledbetter Act to help women achieve equal pay, the first piece of legislation Obama signed.

"We'll get back to you on that," campaign policy director Lanhee Chen said after a pause.