GOP contenders vow to stay on in race

LAS VEGAS -- It's on to Colorado, Minnesota and Maine.

With back-to-back victories fueling him, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is looking toward the next states that hold GOP nominating contests as main rival Newt Gingrich brushes aside any talk of abandoning his White House bid -- all but ensuring that the battle will stretch into the spring, if not beyond.

Shortly after losing big to Romney in Nevada, the former House speaker emphatically renewed his vow to campaign into the party convention in Tampa this summer.

His goal, he said, was to "find a series of victories which by the end of the Texas primary will leave us at parity" with Romney by early April.

Gingrich continued to shrug off Nevada's caucus results in an appearance yesterday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"This is the state he won last time, and he won it this time," he said of Romney. "Our goal is to get to Super Tuesday, where we're in much more favorable territory."

But first, Gingrich must make it through Colorado and Minnesota, which both hold caucuses Tuesday.

Maine follows on Saturday during a month in the presidential race that promises to be as plodding as January was rapid-fire.

Romney will look to maintain his position of strength, if not build upon it, as his rivals continue working to derail him, even as their options for doing so narrow with each victory he notches.

The former Massachusetts governor held a double-digit lead yesterday morning over his nearest pursuer as the totals mounted in Nevada, where fellow Mormons accounted for roughly a quarter of all caucus participants.

Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul vied for a distant second. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum trailed the field.

Santorum barely won the leadoff caucuses in Iowa and has trailed in every contest since then. Still, he insisted yesterday that "our numbers are moving up continually."

"I think we're going to show improvement. This race is a long, long way from being over," Santorum said on "Fox News Sunday."

And on ABC's "This Week," Paul maintained that the results show voters are still up for grabs. "I get energized because I know there's a large number of people who are looking for another option," he said.