RALEIGH, N.C.-

Speaking to high school students in N.C., Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich put on a new face Monday when talking about his bid for the nomination, proving he knows a little bit about putting on makeup while trying to explain personalized healthcare to the group of 16 to 18 year-olds.

When asked by a student reporter what he thought about his chances at the nomination, Gingrich said, "I think it's uphill. It's a challenge. I think I have a shot at it, but it's uphill."

Gingrich recently changed his language when talking about winning the Republican nomination, no longer saying he was going all the way to convention. On Sunday, Gingrich said that Romney was the likely nominee.

"Well, I think you have to be realistic, given the size of his organization, given the number of primaries he's won. He is far and away, the most likely Republican nominee," Gingrich said on Fox News Sunday.

But Gingrich attempted to walk back his comments from Sunday and earlier Monday, in an appearance on Hannity, reiterating "most likely, not certain, if he gets there…That got somehow translated almost instantly into something I didn't say," Gingrich said on Fox News Monday night.

Gingrich even suggested he write that he intends to stay in the race across his face.

"I'm thinking about getting it tattooed up here," Gingrich said as he pointed to his forehead, "All the way to Tampa, ok?"

Gingrich said Democrats were fine with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama fighting for the nomination until June.

"This panic-stricken, national establishment paranoia is just pure foolishness," Gingrich said.

Hoping to win over some young voters, the former Speaker of the House told the girl students in the audience at Broughton High School that he wanted to explain healthcare in terms of applying makeup, saying the guys would be confused, "most of them…" Gingrich said to laughter.

Gingrich told the students the more scientists knew about individuals, the more personalized heath care should be. Gingrich went into detail about skin tones and hair color, possibly taking tips from his wife, Callista Gingrich, who was campaigning alone in New York City.

"Think about it, if you're going to go out on Friday and you're going to put on make-up, each of you has a different skin tone and you have different hair color and you may want to create a different effect. If you're going to church you probably wear one level of makeup, if you're going out on a date, you may wear a different level of make-up. If you were going to be in a play up here, you may wear a different level of makeup and it would be literally unique to each one of you," Gingrich said. "We're going to be able to have very personalized medicine, just the way we have personalized make up."

Gingrich will continue to campaign in North Carolina Tuesday, visiting New Bern.