ENDGAME?

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

No, it’s not over yet. But at this rate Mitt Romney’s rivals won’t catch him unless they pull off an unlikely fight at the Republican National Convention in August.

Romney is on a delegate-winning pace to secure the nomination in June, and at their current rate none of his GOP foes will reach even half the number needed.

The former Massachusetts governor’s six victories on Super Tuesday netted him over 200 delegates to the party’s convention — more than twice as many as any other candidate. And to date, Romney has won 55 percent of the delegates at stake in primaries and caucuses.

At that pace, Romney won’t reach the 1,144 delegates needed to clinch the Republican nomination until summer. That provides a lot of opportunities for slip-ups and intrigue — and plenty of incentive for Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich to stay in the race and try to make up ground.

The delegate math is worse for Santorum and Gingrich, despite Santorum’s three victories Tuesday.

At their current rate, they won’t come close to catching Romney — unless something catastrophic happens to him. Their only hope is to stop Romney from reaching the victory threshold, then wrestle the nomination from him at the convention.

Santorum campaign spokesman Hogan Gidley acknowledges that Super Tuesday’s results could feed a growing math problem for Santorum, but he also says the former Pennsylvania senator is determined to fight on.

“If we all go to the convention with a certain amount of delegates and we have to figure something out at the convention, then so be it,” Gidley said. “But that’s democracy.”