Newt Gingrich in NY: I'm staying in race

Surrounded by Mitt Romney supporters, Newt Gingrich told New York Republicans Thursday he's staying in the race for the party's presidential nomination.

For now.

New York and four other states hold their Republican presidential primaries Tuesday. In a brief interview before the dinner, Gingrich noted that Romney still doesn't have the delegates needed to lock up the nomination and that he's not quitting until "the game is over."

"Mitt is not yet at 1,144," Gingrich said at the midtown Sheraton. "Look, this is a big sports town and you have an obligation to keep going until the game is over."

He said that Republicans who go to the polls next week in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Delaware deserve to choose a candidate. New York has the most delegates at stake that day, 95.

But he also said that if Romney locks up enough delegates to win the nomination, he "will work all-out" to help the former Massachusetts governor defeat President Barack Obama.

"I've stayed in the race to articulate big themes," Gingrich told the audience, "but I want you to know I believe we have a moral obligation to defeat Barack Obama."

After former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum dropped out of the Republican race, Gingrich and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas remain the only obstacles to Romney receiving enough delegates to secure the party's nomination before its summer convention in Tampa, Fla.

After Santorum quit, many leading Republicans jumped on the Romney bandwagon, including New York Republican chairman Ed Cox, who presided over Thursday's event. State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), who was also in attendance, had endorsed Romney earlier, as did the keynote speaker, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, whom some have touted for vice president.

Gingrich spent much of his formal address talking about energy and the Middle East.

He said increasing domestic energy supplies would not only decrease entanglements in the Middle East but give Republicans a winning issue for the November elections.