The Hill News

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) doubts Newt Gingrich will stay in the presidential race all the way to the Republican National Convention, despite the former House Speaker's claims to do just that.

In an interview with The Atlantic magazine, Paul, who has campaigned for his father Ron Paul's presidential bid, said it's unlikely Gingrich will stay in the convention.

"I doubt it. I think once he starts losing a bunch, he will drop out. Once he loses Florida I don't know what states he's looking to," Paul said in the interview published Tuesday. "He's not on the ballot in Virginia, and I don't think he's on the ballot in Illinois either. There's no route to victory for him in the West. It's tough â€" my dad does real well out there, b! ut so does [Mitt] Romney. There's not room for anybody else, probably, in a lot of those Western states."

Gingrich has repeatedly promised to stay in the presidential race until the Republican Party's presidential nomination convention in Tampa, Fla., which begins August 27.

Recent polling of the GOP presidential field has found rising Republican support for Rick Santorum, with a number of polls showing him a close second or even ahead of frontrunner Mitt Romney. Those same polls have found Paul and Gingrich with Republican support in the mid-teens. As a result, on Monday, the conservative National Review magazine suggested that Gingrich should drop out of the race and throw his support behind Santorum.