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It鈥檚 now a two-man race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Rick Santorum鈥檚 sweep of the Alabama and Mississippi primaries has solidified the former Pennsylvania senator鈥檚 position as the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney 鈥� and ensured that the GOP nomination race will extend long into the spring, if not all the way to the party convention in August.

The big question is whether Newt Gingrich of Georgia 鈥� who came in second in both primaries despite his Southern roots 鈥� will stay in the race or step aside to allow the non-Romney vote to consolidate. On Tuesday night, the former House speaker showed no sign he was ready to give up.

Another question is whether Mr. Romney, who failed to manage expectations for his performance in the Deep South, will shake up his campaign team in a bid to reassure donors. The Michigan-born former governor of Massachusetts had predicted he would win Alabama, even as he established that the Southern contests were an 鈥渁way game鈥� for him.

Romney鈥檚 losses were mitigated by victories in the Hawaii and American Samoa caucuses and the fact that all four of Tuesday鈥檚 contests will award delegates on a proportional basis. He came in a close third in Mississippi and Alabama, fewer than 3 percentage points behind Mr. Santorum in Mississippi and 5.5 points in Alabama.

The delegate math still favors Romney, a point he emphasized in a statement late Tuesday.

鈥淚 am pleased that we will be increasing our delegate count in a very substantial way after tonight,鈥� Romney said.

• In Mississippi, Santorum won 32.9 percent, Gingrich got 31.3, Romney got 30.3, and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas got 4.4 percent.
• In Alabama, Santorum won 34.5 percent, Gingrich got 29.3, Romney got 29, and Congressman Paul got 5 percent.
• In Hawaii鈥檚 caucuses, Romney won convincingly with 45.4 percent, Santorum got 25.3 percent, Paul got 18.3 percent, and Gingrich got 11 percent.
• Totals for the American Samoa caucuses were not available at press time, though the Associated Press declared Romney the winner.

Out of 1,144 delegates needed to secure the nomination, Romney has 485, versus 246 for Santorum, 131 for Mr. Gingrich, and 47 for Paul, according to the Associated Press鈥檚 partial delegate count based on Tuesday鈥檚 results.

The drawn-out GOP nomination contest contains echoes of the Democratic race four years ago, in which Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton battled all the way to June. But the Republican race of 2012 is marked by a sharper ideological divide than the Democrats experienced. Santorum performs best among voters who self-identify as 鈥渧ery conservative,鈥� evangelical, and anti-abortion, while Romney鈥檚 base is more moderate, less religious, higher-income voters.

The split conservative vote took some of the sparkle off Santorum鈥檚 victories and saved Romney from a major embarrassment.

鈥淗alf the voters in both Southern primaries branded Romney as 鈥榥ot conservative enough.鈥� If they鈥檇 only had one place to go, it might鈥檝e been a Santorum or Gingrich romp. Instead, those voters divided between the two, by 44-39 percent in Alabama, 42-39 percent in Mississippi,鈥� writes Gary Langer, pollster for ABC News.

鈥淭hat was enough for Santorum to win in both states 鈥� but perhaps by closer margins than he may have wanted, given his efforts to cement the evangelical and very conservative segments of the GOP vote. This was their home base.鈥�

Two major contests loom 鈥� Puerto Rico on Sunday and Illinois next Tuesday. If Romney underperforms in either, anxiety within the Republican establishment is likely to escalate. The possibility that Santorum arrives at the Republican convention with enough delegates to muscle the nomination away from Romney could be devastating to the GOP鈥檚 chances in November. Romney said as much in an interview on Fox News Monday.

鈥淟ook, if we go all the way to a convention, we would be signaling our doom in terms of replacing President Obama,鈥� Romney said. 鈥淲e need to select someone to become our nominee, get that person nominated, and get focused on President Obama, and get him out of the White House.鈥�

The assumption built into Romney鈥檚 assertion is that that 鈥渟omeone鈥� would be him. But for many energized conservatives, that 鈥渟omeone鈥� should be Santorum. In an interview on CNN Tuesday night, the Pennsylvanian鈥檚 senior campaign adviser, John Brabender, drove home that point.

"I think it's time that conservatives and tea party supporters understand that they've got to rally around one candidate," Mr. Brabender said. "That's how you stop a moderate like Mitt Romney like from ever getting the nomination."