Free Republic

PELL CITY, Ala. — Newt Gingrich says he isn’t dropping out of the Republican presidential race. Gingrich said during an Alabama campaign swing Wednesday that he’s staying in because it’s impossible for a moderate Republican to be elected president in November. He was referring to front-runner Mitt Romney. Gingrich also said rival Rick Santorum, whom Gingrich is battling to be the preferred conservative, is a creature of the establishment. Top allies of Santorum have said Gingrich should drop out.

Results 12:33 AM ET 0:50 | 99% reporting Candidate Votes Percent Delegates Mitt-romney_50 Mitt Romney 451,972 38.0% 23 Rick-santorum_50 Rick Santorum 439,932 37.0 17 Newt-gingrich_50 Newt Gingrich 173,797 14.6 — Ron-paul_50 Ron Paul 110,289 9.3 — Show all Show-more-arrow Others 13,717 1.2

Rick Santorum indicated that Newt Gingrich should drop out of the presidential race, arguing -- as Gingrich did during his surge -- that splitting the "anti-Romney" vote helped Mitt Romney win the Michigan primary and Washington caucuses and contributes to his overall success so far. "It's always harder when you've got to conservative running in the race as we have seen in Washington and we've seen in other states," Santorum said on Fox News Sunday. "We have the anti-Romney vote, if you will. Both Gingrich and I are slugging away." Santorum stopped short of calling for Gingrich to exit the...