The Associated Press has sent an alert out reporting that a number of senior advisers to Newt Gingrich have resigned. The list is thought to include Rob Johnson, a former top adviser and campaign manager to Texas governor Rick Perry; Dave Carney, another top Perry adviser and a New Hampshire specialist; Sam Dawson, longtime Gingrich strategist during his House career; Katon Dawson, a big GOP player in South Carolina and nationally; and Craig Schoenfeld, head of Gingrich’s Iowa operation.
The resignation of Gingrich’s top men in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina would appear to be . . . not good for his chances there. Likewise, the presence on the list of two advisers close to Rick Perry will only fuel speculation that Perry will seek the nomination himself.
UPDATE: Politico’s Jonathan Martin adds spokesman Rick Tyler to the list of campaign officials who have resigned. Martin also reports that the exodus was a means of protest over “different vision[s].”
The mass resignation was, one source said, “a team decision.”
“We just had a different direction in which we wanted to take the campaign,” said a second source.
Gingrich was intent on using technology and standing out at debates to get traction while his advisers believed he needed to run a campaign that incorporated both traditional, grassroots techniques as well as new ideas.
One official said the last straw came when Gingrich went forward with taking a long-planned cruise with his wife last week in the Greek isles.
Are they headed back to Gov. Perry? Either way, I think it's safe to say Mr. Gingrich's little PR stunt and ego trip is now over.
Too bad, so sad. Mr. Gingrich, don't let the door hit you where the Good Lord split you.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThey're heading over to Perry's camp. Gingrich was never really serious.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe other candidates are no doubt scrambling to see who can benefit from this by wooing all 73 of Newt’s supporters…
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"...means of protest over “different vision[s]."
Translation: Gingrich thinks he can win, his staff doesn't think he has an ice cubes chance in Hades.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSomebody get out Frost's "The Road Not Taken" and remind other potential Newts of the future that it is, after all, often the BEST road to take.
What a waste of a good video and novelist career. Ah well....next?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAs a Texan...
Can someone explain the infatuation with Rick Perry? The weakness of the Governor in Texas makes it hard to see what his real accomplishments are. And there are some problems with things he has proposed, most notoriously the Trans Texas Corridor plan, which would have gobbled up a lot of private property.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSimple: He has fairly conservative views, is carrying no large baggage and is not named Sarah. How much more do you think you are going to get?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAs a Texan...
Rick Perry excites me more than the other milquetoast candidates. Sure, he's had a few boneheaded ideas, but in two and half terms, what governor wouldn't. On balance, he's been a successful governor.
To your point about him being weak, legislatively there may be some (just a little) validity, but he has used his bully pulpit and influenced the legislature very well. Much better than Gov. Bush ever did.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGood on them... Newt was going nowhere fast.
Should Palin get serious, we can only pray for a similar outcome well before the election.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIs a new bimbo eruption afoot?
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"Different vision[s]" =
Staff can see it's hopeless, Newt can't.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOf all the GOP candidates, Newt excited me the least. He never had a chance and I wonder why he even bothered.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHey, don't mock the guy, he kept Clinton in check for a couple of years after 1995. Since Newt had no chance to be elected president, this is a healthy thing for our electoral chances.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis was all planned. Newt was a stalking horse for Rick Perry from the get-go - Carney does nothing by accident or without reason, same with Rob Johnson. They know exactly what they're doing. I daresay, so does Newt. He's always been in a better position to be a kingmaker than a king; even the Ryan gaffe could have been a way of simply testing the field and running rhetoric to see what could fly. This is a good move and probably the first significant action by the Republicans that could create a game change.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse@Wotan: The general public sees the longest tenured Texas governor ever with a good record for jobs creation, a good steward of the Texas economy, and a charismatic and well spoken proponent of limited government, states rights and other principles that are becoming increasingly important to everyone besides the partisan left. And he has only two real missteps on his record, neither of which is as big a deal as his opponents like to portray. He has angered some in Texas, (mostly Longhorns fans, I think) but that means nothing in a national election. Perry has the resume, the background and the communications skills to beat Obama, perhaps moreso than any other declared candidate. At a bare minimum, he would make things a whole lot more interesting in a very unexciting field.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abusewotan: I wasn't particularly impressed by Perry either when I lived in Texas. But the choice isn't between Perry and a genuine superstar, it's between Perry and Mitt Romney. With his connections in Texas and the Republican Governor's Association, he's one of very few people who can still jump in and match Romney's resources.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHannity will be heartbroken.
Who's he going to grovel in front of now?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe choice is between Perry and Romney?
Mitt Romney is a faux front-runner. His name is better-known than any of the other candidates. At this point, the flak on RomneyCare HELPED HIM in the polls, because he was garnering early attention which bolsters his name ID.
The choice is between three people: Pawlenty, Bachmann, and Cain. A very diverse group, each with serious strengths and noticeable weaknesses, which poses a tough choice for GOP primary voters.
But Sarah was right: More so than in any other open GOP primary, this field is in a state of constant flux. I still think a name will surface from out of left field and surprise everyone by the end of the summer.
And his name is NOT Perry. Rick Perry's supposed road to the nomination meanders at roughly the same topographic trajectory as Phil Gramm's in 1996. It's supposedly all down-hill.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNewtered?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf Rick Perry is the best the Republican Party can come up with-then the Republicans are in even more trouble than Obama.
As a native Texan, I'd have to hold my nose to vote for a man who is as big a zealot of government abuse of Eminent Domain as there is(see Trans Texas Corridor) AND who thinks the government should be able to force parents to give their daughter vaccinations that may pose a health risk.
This guy is no Conservative. He's the Republican flavor of the same "crony capitalism" we have right now with Obama.
The difference is-there won't be nearly as much constraint on Perry's powers as President as there are on him as Governor.
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