Gingrich undaunted by Romney

LAS VEGAS -- Now it's on to Colorado, Minnesota, and Maine.

With back-to-back victories fueling him, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is looking toward the next states that hold GOP nominating contests as main rival Newt Gingrich brushes aside any talk of abandoning his White House bid.

Shortly after losing big to Mr. Romney in Nevada over the weekend, the former House speaker renewed his vow to campaign into the party convention in Tampa this summer.

His goal, he said, was to "find a series of victories which by the end of the Texas primary will leave us at parity" with Mr. Romney by early April.

Mr. Gingrich continued to shrug off Nevada's caucus results in an appearance on Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press.

"This is the state he won last time, and he won it this time," he said of Mr. Romney. "Our goal is to get to Super Tuesday where we're in much more favorable territory."

But first, Mr. Gingrich must make it through Colorado and Minnesota, which both hold caucuses Tuesday.

Maine follows on Saturday during a month that promises to be as plodding as January was rapid-fire in the presidential race.

Mr. Romney will look to maintain his position of strength, if not build upon it, as his rivals work to derail him even as their options for doing so narrow with each victory he notches.

The former Massachusetts governor held a double-digit lead Sunday over his nearest pursuer as the totals mounted in Nevada.

Mr. Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul vied for a distant second. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum trailed the field.

Mr. Santorum won the leadoff caucuses in Iowa and has trailed in the contests since then. He insisted Sunday that "our numbers are moving up continually."

"I think we're going to show improvement. This race is a long, long way from being over," Mr. Santorum said on Fox News Sunday.

On ABC's This Week, Mr. Paul maintained the results show voters are still up for grabs.

"I get energized because I know there's a large number of people who are looking for another option," Mr. Paul said.

With votes from 87 percent of Nevada's precinct caucuses tallied, Mr. Romney had 48 percent, Mr. Gingrich 22 percent, Mr. Paul 19 percent, and Mr. Santorum 11 percent.

Votes were still being tallied in Clark County, the state's most populous and home to the Las Vegas Strip, where officials stayed up until the wee hours of Sunday morning counting ballots, but still couldn't finish the task.

The fate of the state GOP's 28 delegates remained unknown.

Preliminary results of a poll of Nevada Republicans entering their caucuses showed that nearly half said the most important consideration in their decision was a candidate's ability to defeat President Obama.

Mr. Romney continues to solidify his position as the front-runner in the race for the GOP nomination. But as the contest has grown more negative, public impressions of the top Republican contenders have soured, the poll said.

The survey was conducted Wednesday through Saturday.

Overall, 55 percent of those who are closely following the campaign say they disapprove of what the GOP candidates have been saying.

By better than 2 to 1, Americans say the more they learn about Mr. Romney, the less they like him. Even among Republicans, as many offer negative as positive assessments of him on this question.

Judgments about Mr. Gingrich are negative by about 3 to 1.

Mr. Obama's overall approval rating stands at 50 percent, the highest in a Post-ABC News poll since a brief run above 50 percent immediately after Osama bin Laden was killed in early May.

Still, nearly as many -- 46 percent -- disapprove.