UPDATE:
Perhaps a sign of just how tough things are for Gingrich is the decision of the Gingrich campaign to start charging supporters $50 to have their photo taken with the vanishing GOP hopeful.
Holding the ridiculous cardboard gallon of gas is $2.50 extra. (Sorry, couldn’t resist it.)
Trying to make the absurd and the cheapo look logical, generous and patriotic, the campaign says that the new policy “ is really a way to showcase the grass-roots strength of his shoestring campaign,” according to the LA Times.
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Original Post:
Politico reports that “Newt Gingrich is cutting back his campaign schedule, will lay off about a third of his cash-strapped campaign’s full-time staff, and has replaced his manager as part of what aides are calling a ‘big-choice convention’ strategy.” “We’re focusing exclusively on what it’ll take to win what we’re going to be calling a big-choice convention in August,” DeSantis said in a phone interview Tuesday night.
Politico continues:
It’s largely a strategy of necessity: The former House Speaker is a distant third in delegates, behind Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum. His campaign-finance report for February, released last week, showed more debt ($1.55 million) than cash on hand ($1.54 million).
DeSantis said the former Speaker will continue to visit states with primaries, but will have a less intense campaign schedule.
DeSantis promised that the campaign will be “more positive and ideas-focused,” eschewing attacks on Republican rivals. The aide said the campaign will be more digital, focusing on low-cost communications tools, including informational videos, social media and the web.
And:
DeSantis elaborated on the announcement in an email: “Newt 2012 is transitioning into an organization appropriate for winning a big choice convention. This big choice convention phase will be focused on two goals. 1. Affecting the national dialogue to show that Gingrich is the most capable of defeating Obama, by leading on issues that put the president on defense – like Newt’s $2.50 Gas Plan; and 2. A parallel communications strategy directly to the delegates.
Yes, that $2.50 a-gallon-of-gas iron-clad promise — not $ 2.45 and not $2.55 — that very “focused idea” will certainly win the “big choice convention” for Newt.
Read more here
