Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee both pledged to stay in the race Wednesday after picking off victories against front-runner John McCain on Super Tuesday, but with McCain swiftly gathering the delegates needed to clinch the nomination, his rivals have an unclear path to victory.

By Wednesday, the big question was whether Romney would continue his bid, despite the former Massachusetts governor's boisterous insistence a night earlier that "this campaign's going on." Romney poured $35 million of his personal fortune into his campaign last year -- and likely several million more this year -- but dramatically trails McCain in both delegates and states won.

Outwardly, aides insisted he would go forward, and sent out a media advisory listing Romney's midday appearance Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. He also was still on track to speak to a Lincoln Day Dinner in Baltimore County, Md., Thursday night.

The campaign is ready to spend money for next Tuesday's primaries in Maryland and Virginia if Romney gives the go-ahead, and budget plans had been drawn up through the Texas and Ohio contests on March 4.

But the candidate and his advisers huddled behind closed doors Wednesday to count delegates and determine whether it was mathematically -- and realistically -- possible to topple McCain. Some advisers also reached out to gauge the feelings of prominent Republicans.

Emboldened by his nine state victories on Tuesday, McCain's sought to dim Romney's chances.

The Arizona senator said Wednesday he's canceling travel plans that would have taken him to Europe this weekend so he can try to secure the nomination "as quickly as possible."

His campaign also released a memo after the results came in that effectively banished Romney to electoral obscurity.

"For Mitt Romney to match our delegate count, he would have to win more than 50 percent of (the remaining delegates). And he would have to win nearly every single delegate still available in order to become the nominee," it said.

Unlike in the Democratic race, the GOP delegate tallies show wide margins, with McCain needing just a few hundred more to secure the nomination.

McCain won 601 delegates Tuesday to 200 for Romney and 147 for Huckabee in incomplete results tallied by The Associated Press. A total of 1,023 delegates were up for grabs in 21 states.

Overall, McCain leads with 703 delegates to 293 for Romney and 190 for Huckabee, according to the AP. Texas Rep. Ron Paul has 14 delegates. It takes 1,191 to win the nomination at this summer's convention in St. Paul, Minn.

In the memo, McCain further dashed Romney's hopes by pointing to the successes of Huckabee, who seems to have forged an allegiance of sorts with McCain. Huckabee won five states, and Romney won seven.

"With Mike Huckabee still a factor in this race, particularly in the South, and many contests moving forward proportional, the math is nearly impossible for Mitt Romney to win the nomination," the memo said.

GOP strategist Kellyanne Conway told FOX News that both Huckabee and Romney should go forward, but for other reasons, if not victory.

"If you're Mitt Romney, your battle may not be for the nomination, but your battle now is for the heart and soul of the conservative movement, which is why he's going to stay in," she said.

Romney has frequently tried to cast McCain as against the mainstream of conservative thought, and far right talk show hosts and political figures have joined the chorus in blasting McCain to that end.

As for Huckabee, Conway said the rumors that the former Arkansas governor is after the vice presidential slot are probably true.

"His path to the presidency right now is a heartbeat away, as they usually describe the vice president," she said.

She noted that Huckabee "hasn't said one criticism about McCain his entire campaign."

Speculation about a McCain-Huckabee ticket was stirred again Tuesday when delegates previously backing McCain went en masse for Huckabee in the West Virginia GOP convention, resulting in a Huckabee win.

Huckabee brushed aside suggestions on Wednesday that he was running for the vice presidential nomination to McCain's candidacy, and knocked down questions about whether he and McCain are cooperating on the campaign trail.

"I'm staying in the race because I still want to be president, and until somebody gets 1,191 delegates, we don't have a nominee," Huckabee told FOX News.

"People see this alliance between McCain and me. What it is is both of us actually believe that the process of politics ought to be civil, and I think that's what's going on. And we like each other but we're opponents. We're not colleagues in this thing," he continued.

Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said he thinks the McCain-Huckabee bond is less clear-cut.

"I honestly don't think that there's been an explicit deal between McCain and Huckabee," he said. "They've been flirting for a long time in the debates, they're good friends."

McCain still needs to rally the GOP's powerful conservative wing to his candidacy to ensure the Republican base turns out in force to vote in November.

FOX News exit polls showed conservative voters went for Romney over McCain by a margin of 42-30 on Tuesday. Romney and Huckabee also fared better among evangelical Christians than McCain.

Many are angered by McCain's repeated departures from GOP orthodoxy. Campaign-finance reforms he co-authored limit free speech and that his proposed path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants amounts to amnesty, opponents say.

Critics also aren't pleased that he prioritizes the fight against global warming, twice voted against President Bush's tax cuts, favored relaxing restrictions on financing embryonic stem cell research and objected to a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, even though he opposes same-sex unions.

McCain and his campaign were continuing to reach out to prominent conservatives, including evangelical leaders, to offset an intense backlash generated by conservative talk-radio pundits like Rush Limbaugh. Critical to the effort was Thursday's speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, a gathering he skipped last year.

"Our message will be that we all share common principles, common conservative principles and we should coalesce around those issues in which we are in agreement," McCain said, expressing hope they could "respectfully disagree" on areas of conflict.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.