Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) --Newt Gingrich vowed to stay in the race for the Republican presidential nomination until the party’s August national convention in Tampa after his second consecutive loss to front-runner Mitt Romney.

“We will continue to campaign all the way to Tampa,” the former U.S. House speaker said at a news conference in Las Vegas following the state’s caucuses.

Gingrich said Republicans want an alternative to Romney.

Gingrich was running second to Romney in Nevada with 39 percent of precincts reporting, according to the Associated Press tally.

To contact the reporter on this story: Catherine Dodge in Washington at cdodge1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Don Frederick at dfrederick1@bloomberg.net