Republican hopefuls battle for Deep South wins

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (AP) — The leading Republican presidential hopefuls focused their campaigns on the Deep South, with polls showing a tight three-way contest in Tuesday's pivotal primaries in Alabama and Mississippi.

The two states have taken on unexpected importance in the race to find a challenger to President Barack Obama in November.

For Rick Santorum, a strong showing in both states could enable him to finally establish himself as the main challenger to front-runner Mitt Romney.

Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, nudged rival Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, to step aside, arguing a head-to-head contest between himself and Romney should "occur sooner rather than later."

Both Santorum and Gingrich are attacking the more centrist Romney from the far right of the political spectrum and have found significant support from the conservative Republican base.

A defiant Gingrich predicted victories in both southern states, where losses would effectively end his chances. Gingrich has banked his waning prospects on an all-Southern strategy. His lone primary wins have been in South Carolina and Georgia, a state he represented in Congress for 20 years.

A win for Romney in Alabama, where polling shows a tight contest among him, Gingrich and Santorum, could all but close out the Republican nominating contest.

The former Massachusetts governor has built a substantial delegate lead against his rivals but has failed so far to win a state in the Deep South, home to the Republican Party's most conservative and religious voters.

Romney has built his lead in delegates to the party's national nominating convention in August largely because Santorum and Gingrich have split the conservative vote. That enabled Romney to edge out Santorum by a few percentage points in closely fought primaries in his home state of Michigan and the key industrial state of Ohio.

Santorum, who has battled to be Romney's chief conservative foe, burnished his standing with a decisive win in caucuses in Kansas on Saturday. He also carried contests last week in Oklahoma and Tennessee, giving him a toehold in the South.

On NBC television's "Meet the Press," Santorum said Gingrich's recent stretch of weak showings suggested he has few options left in the race. Gingrich placed third in Kansas and last in Wyoming, whose caucuses Romney won easily Saturday.

"The speaker can stay in as long as he wants, but I think the better opportunity to make sure that we nominate a conservative is to give us an opportunity to go head-to-head with Gov. Romney at some point, and hopefully that will occur sooner rather than later," Santorum said, adding he wasn't directly calling for Gingrich to leave the race.

Santorum and Gingrich both campaigned Sunday in Mississippi. Romney had no campaign appearances Sunday, but his campaign and an allied independent group were far outpacing his rivals in spending on television ads in Alabama and Mississippi.

The weekend contests left Romney with 454 delegates in the AP's count, more than all his rivals combined. Santorum had 217, while Gingrich had 107 and Texas Rep. Ron Paul had 47.

Romney's totals included 22 that he picked up in the Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

A candidate must get 1,144 delegates to clinch the Republican presidential nomination.