Top aides to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich have resigned en masse, Fox News has learned, imperiling the Republican's 2012 presidential campaign at a crucial time. Among the senior staff members Gingrich is losing are spokesman Rick Tyler and campaign manager Rob Johnson, along with other strategists. Insiders say Gingrich and senior aides were unable to agree on the direction of the campaign. On his Facebook page Thursday afternoon, Gingrich assured supporters he remains in the race. "I am committed to running the substantive, solutions-oriented campaign I set out to run earlier this spring. The campaign begins anew Sunday in Los Angeles," he wrote, referring to a foreign policy address he's scheduled to deliver Sunday evening. But the exodus puts the former House speaker, who already had been struggling to rank in early GOP primary polls, in a tough spot. The conservative icon was one of the first major candidates to officially launch his campaign, but several other GOP heavyweights have followed suit in recent weeks and gone aggressively after President Obama. Gingrich ran into trouble early on when he bluntly criticized House Republicans' plan for overhauling Medicare. He has since walked that back, but disagreements continued to fester on his team over the message and strategy of the campaign. Aides said the team was increasingly concerned Gingrich did not appear willing or able to put in the time needed to run a viable campaign. In one clash, they had begged him not to leave the trail for a Mediterranean cruise with his wife -- advice he ignored. Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, who was a co-chairman of Gingrich's campaign until Thursday, has now joined former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's team. "Tim Pawlenty is a great man, he was a phenomenal governor, and he is the person I now believe stands the greatest chance of defeating President Obama," he said in a statement. The mass exodus could signal a potential presidential campaign by Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Johnson ran Perry's campaign for governor while Dave Carney, another strategist who left the Gingrich camp, also has very close ties to the Texas governor. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...-resign-en-masse-from-campaign/#ixzz1Oq0F5Uuk
Newt spent too much time in Gwinnett County. For those who are not natives of Ga, Newt thought he could win because he could use the Southern strategy. The entire South combined has less electorates than Ca and the Northeast. Newt was out of his mind from day one. I posted that somewhere too. He would need to carry all of the South, all of the Mountain West, and half of the Midwest to win. As someone who lives in the Midwest, they will hold how he treated his wives against him immensely. Midwest voters are values voters. They do not care the color of your skin, they do care a hell of a lot about whether or not you are like they are. That is how Obama won Iowa in 2008.