BILOXI, Miss – The Republican presidential primary candidates are preparing to add to their delegate totals Tuesday with two big-ticket states in the South, where Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich need to excel to stay competitive.

Mitt Romney, on the other hand, acknowledged he doesn't need to win Alabama or Mississippi to stay in the nomination hunt even as he expressed confidence -- backed by late polling -- that evangelical and socially conservative voters in the South think he's the one to win the White House back from President Obama.

"John McCain didn't win either of these states, Alabama or Mississippi," he told Fox News. "We are delighted that we are doing so well there. The polls are suggesting it is kind of a three-way tie. It is an away game for me."

Romney added that many in the two Southern states are joining his effort because "the other guys are nice folks, but they have not organized a campaign with a staff, the organization, the fund-raising capacity to actually beat Barack Obama. I have."...