This week’s news is being seen as a critical blow to Gingrich’s campaign for a Republican presidential candidacy. Sixteen aides quit, including his entire Iowa team, and campaign manager Rob Johnson, strategists Sam Dawson and Dave Carney, spokesman Rick Tyler, and consultants Katon Dawson in South Carolina, Politico reports.
The difference of opinion stemmed from Gingrich’s determination to use technology and new media, while also standing out at debates to gain attention. His advisers believed “he needed to run in a way that incorporated both traditional, grassroots techniques as well as new ideas,” Politico writes.
Tension surfaces in other areas. “His aides described him and Mrs. Gingrich as not doing enough to dedicate themselves to the hard work and the unglamorous aspects of running for president,” the New York Times found.
Gingrich isn’t letting this staff exodus phase him. He said he’s “committed to running the substantive, solutions-oriented campaign I set out to run earlier this spring,” the Times reports.
Some observers believe Gingrich’s troubles could open the door for potential presidential campaigns by Texas Gov. Rick Perry and other potential candidates.
Polls weren’t kind to Gingrich. He polled at just 8 percent, far behind Romney, Palin and Rudy Giuliani, the NYC former mayor who is considering a GOP run. “Gingrich also had just 11% support among white evangelicals, placing him a distant fourth,” the Guardian writes.
