By Douglas Holtz-Eakin
The young drop coverage to avoid higher premiums
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
While Newt Gingrich is not officially dropping his presidential bid, the former House speaker indicated Sunday he would be willing to step aside for the Mitt Romney campaign if doing so helped ensure a Republican victory over President Obama.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is dramatically curtailing his campaign schedule, laying off about a third of his staff and dismissing his campaign manager as he focuses on a last-ditch effort to win the Republican presidential nomination at the party's convention.
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is drastically reorganizing his money- and delegate-deprived campaign, scaling back a traditional operation to focus on low-cost social media and an effort to cajole delegates to back him over front-runner Mitt Romney.
Photos and video of a baby's impromptu interaction with President Obama went viral Sunday and Monday, turning up on news websites, Facebook, Twitter and other social-media sites.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry failed to garner enough signatures to meet Virginia's stringent requirements to appear on the state's GOP primary ballot, leaving former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Rep. Ron Paul as the only Republican candidates to qualify in the crucial swing state.
Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich's campaign attacked Virginia's GOP primary election system on Saturday for keeping him off the state's March 6 Super Tuesday ballot, a significant setback for a candidate who has surged in popularity but has struggled to organize his campaign.
Writing on the campaign's Facebook page, Mr. Krull said: "Newt and I agreed that the analogy is December 1941. We have experienced an unexpected setback, but we will regroup and refocus with increased determination, commitment and positive action. Throughout the next months, there will be ups and downs; there will be successes and failures; there will be easy victories and difficult days — but in the end we will stand victorious."
Newt Gingrich's campaign director, Michael Krull, said he and his boss see the candidate's failure to submit enough signatures to be put on Virginia's Republican primary ballot next year as an "unexpected setback" similar to the attack on Pearl Harbor, according to the Hill newspaper's Briefing Room blog.
