Reoublican presidential candidacy: Mississippi and Alabama braced for primaries

REPUBLICAN presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is counting on primaries in the overwhelmingly conservative states of Alabama and Mississippi today to keep alive his slim chance of winning the nomination.

Mr Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, is running third in the race to challenge president Barack Obama,

But polls are showing a tight three-way contest in both Deep South states, where front-running Mitt Romney is posting a surprisingly strong showing, as is former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum.

Mr Gingrich needs victories in both states to meet his goal of resurrecting a candidacy that surpassed Mr Romney for a few brief weeks earlier this year when he pulled an upset victory in South Carolina. More recently, Mr Gingrich also won Georgia, the state he represented in Congress for two decades.

A strong showing for Mr Santorum today would, however, allow him to finally establish himself as the main challenger to Mr Romney.

Yesterday predicted that he would win the nomination if the race remains undecided by the time the party holds its nominating convention this summer.

Though Mr Romney holds a commanding lead in convention delegates, Mr Santorum said the race is about to enter a period where he will face fewer disadvantages. To date, Mr Romney has outspent Mr Santorum and had stronger campaign organisations working for him.

“They are not going to nominate a moderate Massachusetts governor who’s been outspending his opponent ten to one and can’t win the election outright,” Mr Santorum said. “What chance do we have in a general election if he can’t, with an overwhelming money advantage, be able to deliver any kind of knockout blow to other candidates?”

“We’re going to be the nominee,” Mr Santorum said, adding later, “governor Romney will not make it.”

Mr Santorum has urged Mr Gingrich to step aside, arguing that a head-to-head contest between himself and Mr Romney should “occur sooner rather than later.” Both Mr Santorum and Mr Gingrich are attacking the more centrist Mr Romney from the far right of the political spectrum and have found significant support from the conservative Republican base.

A win for Mr Romney in Alabama could all but guarantee him the Republican nomination. Campaigning yesterday in Alabama. Mr Romney told voters that Mr Obama was wrong to think the country is doing better because of recent job increases.

Mr Romney told a rain-soaked crowd in Mobile that Mr Obama should talk to the millions of people who remain unemployed or have stopped looking for work. February was the third consecutive month in which the government reported that more than 200,000 jobs had been created. The US unemployment rate is 8.3 per cent.

Mr Obama’s approval ratings had been on the rise recently, in-line with signs that the economy was doing better. But the recent sharp rise in gasoline prices appears to be damaging the president’s standing.

A new Washington Post/ABC News poll shows a big majority of those surveyed give Mr Obama failing marks for his handling of fuel costs.

The poll further found the president in a statistical tied in a hypothetical race either with Mr Romney or Mr Santorum.

Mr Romney has amassed his lead in delegates to the party’s national nominating convention in August largely because Mr Santorum and Mr Gingrich have split the conservative vote.