Gingrich says Romney is “the most likely” Republican nominee
A supporter of Republican presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich shows his support for him as others for Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Gingrich said on Sunday that Romney was “the most likely” GOP candidate for president.
Newt Gingrich admitted Sunday that his rival Mitt Romney was the "most likely" Republican presidential nominee, Fox News reported.
Gingrich, who is trailing in the polls and has found his campaign in significant debt, said in an interview with Fox News Sunday's Brit Hume that he was willing to get behind Romney, who is currently leading the GOP race.
"Well, I think you have to be realistic, given the size of his organization, given the number of primaries he's won," Gingrich told Hume. "He is far and away, the most likely Republican nominee. And if he does get to 1,144 delegates, I'll support him. I'll do everything I can this fall to help him defeat Obama."
Gingrich went on to acknowledge that Romney's campaign had outpaced his own.
“I hit him as hard as I could. He hit me as hard as he could. It turned out he had more things to hit with than I did. And, that’s part of the business. He’s done the fundraising side brilliantly,” Gingrich said on Fox.
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However, Gingrich, the former house speaker, said that he would stay in the race despite trailing both Romney and fellow contender Rick Santorum, Agence France Presse reported.
With his campaign almost $4.5 million in debt and operating on a shoestring budget, Gingrich nonetheless said he was happy with his decision to run, the Washington Post reported.
"I'm glad I did this," he said. "For me it was important as a citizen to try to do some very hard things. To try to bring new ideas and new approaches. It turned out to be much harder than I thought it would be, but it was the right thing for me to do, both in my life and where I thought the country was. I have no regrets."
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Meanwhile on the GOP campaign trail, Romney's presidential campaign pulled a TV ad attacking rival Rick Santorum while Santorum's daughter Isabella is in the hospital, CNN reported. Isabella, who was admitted on Friday for the second time this year, suffers from a rare chromosome condition called Trisomy 18.
The negative ad was going to air in the April 24 primary battleground state of Pennsylvania, attacked Santorum's 2006 re-election loss in the state, according to CNN.
Romney's campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said the decision was made "out of deference to Sen. Santorum's decision to suspend his campaign for personal family reasons," CNN reported.
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