Gingrich throws in the towel, ends campaign

 

Candidate Newt Gingrich dropped out of the presidential race last Tuesday with a YouTube video stating that with the help of his supporters, “We were able to put up a terrific campaign.” The goodbye message included thanking all of Gingrich’s supporters, which in his words was “still the most important election in our lifetime,” in defeating incumbent President Obama.

“The man has a huge ego and was doing this for the attention and to sell books,” said Eric Terman, a DePaul graduate from the political science program. “I don’t think he was truly serious about winning the election when he first started out.”

Terman is not alone in criticizing Gingrich’s decision to remain in the race when the polls indicated he did not have the support necessary to win the delegates required for the GOP candidacy. After announcing his campaign in the summer of 2011 he took a two-week vacation in the Mediterranean. His leave of absence caused many of his advisors to leave the campaign early on, requiring him to reshuffle his campaign team and strategy.

This included his campaign manager at the time, Rob Johnson, and Rick Tyler, his former campaign spokesman.

“When the campaign and the candidate disagree on the path, they’ve got to part ways,” said Tyler in an official statement.

Gingrich’s campaign suffered for the rest of the summer and early fall, until November. With strong debate performances and fundraising success in states like Iowa, South Carolina and Florida, he gained a lot of momentum with his campaign and at one point was on par in the polls with Romney and Santorum. In an interview with ABC, he confidently stated, “I’m going to be the nominee.”

So what happened?

“There are a lot of things that contributed to his downfall,” said Terman. “It’s hard to pinpoint it to just one thing. He had disorganized campaigning, and he lost favor with Republicans when he bashed the Paul Ryan budget.”

Supporters, however, counter that Gingrich ran a competitive campaign that represented a new direction for the future of the country.

The tide began to turn with campaign funding, when GOP candidate Mitt Romney launched a series of attack ads against Gingrich. There wasn’t much response from Gingrich due to a lack of finances in the campaign budget, dwarfed by Romney’s own war chest. His campaign ended up being more than $4 million in debt at the end of March.

Like any prospective candidate running for the presidency, Gingrich stirred up controversy, such as calling President Obama America’s greatest food stamp president. He also discussed ways to get kids in low-income neighborhoods to become janitors at schools. These and many other remarks earned him the nickname “Angry Little Attack Muffin” by Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan.

By the end of the campaign Gingrich was falling in the polls and in debt. But even with Romney officially leading in the polls and having the strongest chance of becoming the nominee, Gingrich kept on fighting a losing battle. Until this past Tuesday it seemed that the GOP couldn’t coerce Gingrich into throwing in the towel.

With the surprise announcement that he would be suspending his campaign, Gingrich got in front of the camera and addressed his campaign supporters. He thanked them, reiterating that without the work of so many people his efforts would not have been possible. The video also went on to say that Barack Obama winning the election would be detrimental to this country. And he encouraged supporters to make sure he wasn’t elected for a second term.

However, Gingrich did not endorse Romney. “That isn’t surprising at all,” said Terman. “All the former GOP candidates hate Romney.”