The end of a roller-coaster campaign:
The night before the Delaware primary, Gingrich met with his team down the hall from the campaign’s war room in Arlington, in a corner office that’s lined with history books and Gingrich’s own novels and memoirs. The polling looked ominous. Gingrich was going to lose, and he’d probably lose big, they predicted, so the discussion centered upon the calendar. The question on everyone’s lips: Could they afford to stay in through May? What would the consequences of that be, especially in terms of the debt?
The group batted it around for awhile. Some members of the senior staff wanted Gingrich to battle on; others were ready to close shop. Eventually, after a healthy debate, the reality of the situation settled in. It was over. By Tuesday night, Gingrich began to say as much in his public remarks, telling reporters on the Newt beat that the situation was being “reassessed.” The campaign, or what was left it, began to mull how to close up, DeSantis says. The plan was to wait a week before officially suspending the campaign, because Gingrich wanted his grandchildren with him when he made his speech, and the Georgia-based kids, Maggie and Robert, were unable to come to Washington until early May.
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