KNOXVILLE, TN-- Mitt Romney took a daylong break from a marathon Ohio campaign swing to make two appearances in southern states his own campaign advisers admit he's unlikely to win, for one simple reason: He's hunting Super Tuesday delegates.

Romney made quick stops in an Atlanta suburb and in Knoxville, Tennessee today -- strategically selected locations in states Romney advisers say he is unlikely to carry, but where the campaign sees delegate pickup opportunities.

"I don't know if we have any realistic expectation of beating Newt Gingrich in his home state," Romney senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom told reporters traveling with the candidate today. "But we look to taking some delegates out. Same thing in Tennessee."

In Georgia, Romney's team has targeted downtown and suburban Atlanta districts, where Romney performed well four years ago, with one senior adviser comparing the demographics of suburban Atlanta to those of Oakland County -- Romney's home county in Michigan -- which he won with fully fifty percent of the vote last week.

Today in Snellville, east of Atlanta, Romney drew an overflow crowd for a pancake brunch that morphed into a town hall. He told voters in the overflow room he felt good about his fifth-straight victory in Washington state Saturday, and later gamely passed out breakfast to voters -- never serving up more than subtle criticism of his republican rivals, and focusing his ire on President Obama.

In Tennessee, Romney has relied on deep bench of establishment support, including a clutch of congressmen, Senator Lamar Alexander and Governor Bill Haslem, to buoy his campaign's efforts. Former Senator Rick Santorum, now widely considered to be Romney's chief rival for the nomination also failed to get on the ballot in some Tennessee districts, further opening the door for Romney to slip away with southern delegates.

Today's campaign event in Knoxville was his first public event in the state this cycle. Introduced by Haslem, Romney was in a confident mood, congratulating the state's famous basketball team, the Lady Vols, and reminiscing about the Davy Crockett theme song from his boyhood.

Romney's confidence pervaded campaign staff, with Fehrnstrom describing the candidate as "thrilled" by the Washington state victory, and brandishing statistics about the New Hampshire and Florida contests to fend off the narrative.

"If you look at New Hampshire, Mitt Romney won by a bigger percentage than Ronald Reagan, and I don’t remember anybody saying Ronald Reagan had a problem connecting with people," Fehrnstrom said. "You look at Florida; Mitt Romney got more votes than any Republican ever in a presidential primary."

But even as the campaign works to highlight the importance of winning delegates, Fehrnstrom told reporters that in the end, the way to silence Romney's critics who say he cannot connect would be simple: win.

"We’re just going to keep focusing on racking up wins, and I think that answers the question," Fehrnstrom said.

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks at Rock Springs Baptist Church on Sunday, Feb. 26 in Milner, Ga.

MILNER, Ga. -- With just nine days to go until Super Tuesday, Newt Gingrich says he is staking the future of his presidential campaign on a win in his home state.
 
“It’s central to the future of our campaign and we’re going to do everything we can to win here,” Gingrich told reporters about a win in Georgia on March 6th.
 
Although the former House Speaker feels confident he can win the Peach State, he remains just cautiously optimistic.
 
“You can never be comfortable until it’s over,” Gingrich, who is leading in some polls in Georgia, said before speaking at Rock Springs Baptist Church's ‘God and Country Rally. “You can’t be comfortable when you have the Romney Super Pac willing to run things that are totally false and willing to spend million and millions of dollars trying to defeat you.”
 
But Georgia isn’t the only state the former house speaker believes he can perform well in.
 
“We hope to do very well in Oklahoma and Tennessee. We may surprise people in Idaho. We think we have a real fighting chance in Ohio,” Gingrich said Sunday evening. “We will have to wait and see how the day works out but I think it may be better than people expect.”
 
Prior to the 11 contests that take place on the first Tuesday in March, however, voters in Michigan and Arizona -- two states Gingrich hasn’t put forth much effort in -- will take to the polls. The Speaker did not campaign in Michigan at all and only held one public event in Arizona after last week’s presidential debate there. The Gingrich campaign seems to have basically conceded the last two states to vote in February to Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum.
 
“I think Gov. Romney has to carry Michigan, I think he has an enormous amount at stake,” Gingrich claimed, but added later that he can still go to the Republican Convention even if Romney doesn’t withdraw from the race at some point.
 
“Of course we can go to Tampa with Mitt in the race,” the Speaker said. “You could have all four of us at Tampa. You could even have number five and six if somebody gets excited and jumps in."
 
Gingrich will spend the majority of his time before Super Tuesday in the state of Georgia.