BOSTON (AP) – After almost seven months as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, Gov. Mitt Romney is still unsure if his party can retain gubernatorial seats this fall, but he believes the races will be decided on local issues rather than national ones.

“I think our success or failure will depend on how we do on a state-by-state basis,” the Massachusetts chief executive said Tuesday before a regional meeting of the RGA at the New England Aquarium. “I think governor’s races by and large are decided by state issues, not national ones.”

There are 36 gubernatorial races this fall. Of those, eight Republican governors are abandoning their seats, as is Romney, compared with only one incumbent Democratic governor, leaving the GOP defending more territory than the Democrats.

That prompted Romney to declare, as he did in December when he was elected RGA chairman, that “we have a math burden.” Nonetheless, he said it is still to early to tell if Republicans will gain or lose seats.

Among those attending the RGA meeting were Govs. Sonny Perdue of Georgia, Donald Carcieri of Rhode Island, Jim Douglas of Vermont and Matt Blunt of Missouri. Also attending were prospective Republican governors, including Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey of Massachusetts, Jim Coburn of New Hampshire, Chandler Woodcock of Maine, Ken Blackwell of Ohio and Ron Saxton of Oregon.