May 2, 2012--Almost a year after
he announced his candidacy (+),
former House Speaker Newt Gingrich suspended his campaign at a press
event at the Hilton Hotel in Arlington, VA. He stated, "Today, I
am suspending the campaign, but suspending the campaign does
not mean suspending citizenship." "Callista and I are committed
to be active citizens," Gingrich said, and he vowed to continue to
advance the ideas he advocated in his campaign. Gingrich put
forth a number of "big ideas" such as
overhauling the judiciary, a plan to bring gas prices down to $2.50 per
gallon, personal savings accounts, investments
in brain science and of course his much mocked pledge to build a
permanent base on
the moon by the end of his second term.
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At times emotional, Gingrich
reflected back on a "truly wild ride" of a campaign which had
more than its share of ups and downs. After the near collapse of
his
campaign in June, Gingrich eked along through the summer until a series
of strong debate
performances boosted him to frontrunner status in November. Then,
however, attack ads from Mitt Romney as well as Ron Paul hit hard, and
Gingrich had lackuster showings in Iowa and New
Hampshire. Rebounding, he finally secured a win in the South
Carolina primary,
but he was unable to build on that in Florida. In the end,
Gingrich won
only two states. In addition to South Carolina, he carried 156 of
159 counties in Georgia en route to winning that primary. While
Gingrich advocated big ideas, his campaign ran a fairly conventional
communications effort, including 30-second TV spots. After Iowa,
the campaign got sucked into a mud fight with Romney and his
allies. Not only did that divert attention from his big ideas,
but
his campaign did not have the resources to win such a fight.
Gingrich stayed in the race much longer than some observers thought he
should have. He fell short in Alabama and Mississippi and again
in
Lousiania, and finally in Delaware. His campaign reportedly has
$4 million in debt. |