Romney and Ryan to split up until convention

(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)MOORESVILLE, N.C.—Mitt Romney will spend just one more day campaigning with his new running mate, Paul Ryan, before the vice presidential hopeful splits on his own packed campaigning schedule.

The two men will spend the day Sunday traveling throughout North Carolina before heading to Ryan's home state of Wisconsin, where the two will headline what the Romney campaign has called a "homecoming rally" in Waukesha.

Then the GOP ticket will split: Romney will continue on his four-state bus tour, which traveling through Florida on Monday, while Ryan will kick of an intense week of campaigning and fundraisers beginning with an appearance at the Iowa State Fair on Monday.

"It's likely that they will be campaigning on different tracks until we get to the convention," Romney adviser Kevin Madden said Sunday.

Indeed, Ryan is set to have a busy week—at least in terms of fundraising. According to a schedule circulated among Romney's fundraising team, Ryan is set to headline 10 finance events between now and Aug. 25—the weekend before the Republican convention is set to begin in Tampa.

On Monday, Ryan is scheduled to headline a fundraising dinner in Colorado. He'll head to Ohio and Virginia on Thursday to raise money before appearing at a finance event in Tampa, Fla., on Friday.

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Newt Gingrich says he's in until Romney reaches 1,144

WILMINGTON, N.C. - Spring allergies took their toll on Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich. In a scratchy, barely recognizable voice, he told a crowd here he expected to do well in North Carolina and set a "new tone" for the Arkansas, Texas and California primaries.

Gingrich said he slept 13 hours on Tuesday but still couldn't shake his illness. Another thing annoying Gingrich, possibly even more than a stuffy nose, is the talk among pundits that he is dropping out of the race soon.

"Until [Romney] becomes the nominee, I'm staying in the race. And in order to be the nominee, he has to get 1,144 uncontested delegates. He has not done that yet," Gingrich said.

In a news conference, a reporter said to Gingrich, "Clearly you have no intention of getting out of the race," to which Gingrich interrupted, "I want to commend you for being the first reporter to state the obvious."

Gingrich said he, Romney and Santorum said they would support the eventual nominee. He didn't believe the words of their past would come back to haunt them in the general election.

"It doesn't matter because they just make stuff up anyway," Gingrich said.

Gingrich told ABC News he is still in the race to win the nomination, not just to take away delegates from Romney.

"I'm trying to get to an open convention to see what would happen," he said. "I mean, I'm not going to beat Romney head to head, but it's conceivable that between Ron Paul, Rick Santorum and me, we'll have enough delegates to have an open convention, and if we have an open convention, the truth is, nobody knows what would happen."

Gingrich has only won the majority of votes in South Carolina and his home state of Georgia, and gathered a total 135 delegates, compared to Santorum's overall count of 278 and Romney's 655.

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