Gingrich: Romney 'Probably the Weakest' GOP Frontrunner Since 1920

Newt Gingrich slammed GOP presidential rival Mitt Romney on Sunday, saying he is "probably the weakest Republican frontrunner" in decades.

The former House speaker, appearing on "Fox News Sunday," was responding to increasing suggestions that it's time for him to bow out of the race, The Hill reported.

"The Romney camp has been trying to say since last June that I should get out of race," Gingrich said. "The fact is, Romney is probably the weakest Republican frontrunner since Leonard Wood in 1920."

Major General Leonard Wood was one of several Republican candidates in a wide-open field in 1920. The party's convention deadlocked, and the nomination ultimately went to Warren G. Harding, remembered for a scandal-plagued administration.

Gingrich continued, "Yes, [Romney]'s the frontrunner, but he's not a very strong frontrunner, nearly all conservatives are opposed to him." In places "where no one else can compete," he said, Romney "does fine."

Despite Romney's large delegate lead, Gingrich said he thinks there still "a space for a visionary conservative."

Gingrich brushed off the question of whether he'd quit if he lost both Alabama and Mississippi this week, states where he's been polling well as part of his Southern-focused strategy but that have become increasingly close.

"I think we'll win both," Gingrich said. "I think we're probably pulling ahead in both states."

He also weighed in on the war in Afghanistan, saying the U.S. mission there may "not be doable," Politico reported.

"I think that we’re risking the lives of young men and women in a mission that may frankly not be doable," Gingrich said. "I think it's very likely that we have lost, tragically lost, the lives and suffered injuries to a considerable number of young Americans on a mission that we’re going to discover is not doable. "