Santorum Campaign Sees Delegate Gap Narrowing CHICAGO - As Rick Santorum awaits the results of the Republican presidential primary here Tuesday that may or may not go his way, his campaign contends that it is gaining steam in the less visible - but more important - contest for delegates. In a conference call with reporters Tuesday afternoon, campaign officials asserted that it was gaining on Mitt Romney at the early district and county conventions where actual delegates are being awarded, or pledged, to candidates - regardless of how those states voted in earlier primaries and caucuses. The campaign reported that in districts that began selecting delegates at smaller party functions in Iowa, Missouri, and Washington, it had gained 80 delegates on Mr. Romney, who, it acknowledged, is still in the lead by a wide margin. The campaign also acknowledged that its figures included projections of what it believed would happen in those states as their delegate selection processes continued in the coming weeks and even months. The Santorum campaign is arguing, however, that at this clip, it can overtake Mr. Romney in the race to collect the 1,144 delegates needed for the nomination - and that, even if it does not, it is preventing any one candidate from getting to that magic number, forcing a convention floor fight. Given the fight for delegates among Mr. Romney, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul and Mr. Santorum, "as these contests move forward, that makes it more difficult for any candidate to ever get to 1,144," said John P. Yob, Mr. Santorum's delegate strategist. The campaign is making its delegate case as it girds for a hard month in April when the electoral terrain appears - for now at least - to favor Mr. Romney; it says it expects to emerge in much better shape in May, when several Southern states vote. But should Mr. Santorum endure a string of losses in the coming weeks, he will need to point to other factors that argue in his favor, with the delegate chase at the county, district and state Republican conventions being chief among them. The delegate count is a moving target, affected by a labyrinth of state and national party rules as well as the evolving preferences of a number of "unbound delegates" who are free to attach themselves to whomever they see fit at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., in August. Mr. Romney's campaign is expecting most of those unbound delegates to go with him, and has argued that Mr. Santorum and Mr. Gingrich face impossible odds in getting to 1,144 delegates through the remaining primaries and caucuses. A win in Illinois on Tuesday would give the Romney campaign more ammunition in arguing that it is on its way to doing so. Then again, the final results of the delegate race in Illinois will not be decided until the Republican state convention - in June.