Mixed Messages: Gingrich Drops Out, But Says He's Still In?

He's no longer pursuing delegates but laying off a third of staff to "focus on Obama."

With Georgia being the last state he’s won (on March 6th), Newt Gingrich has been looking more and more like an add-on rather than a contender. Especially, with Ron Paul possessing more campaign money than him at this point. 

The Gingrich camp pulled back travel this week, canceling a trip to North Carolina — his communications director, Joe DeSantis, says Gingrich will be focusing on President Obama instead of trying to capture the 1,144 delegates needed. This just means that Newt is losing so bad, he has to quit — but wants to hold on to dear life as long as he possibly can.

Its said he is laying off a third of his campaign staff, including his campaign manager, Michael Krull (I’m not sure why he would fire his campaign manager of all people but nevertheless). His February finance report showed available cash of $1.54 million and debt of $1.55 million, according to the NY Times. So of course, financial issues were likely the cause of him pulling back.

He says, it’s impossible for him to win the nomination flat out, by acquiring delegates through primaries and caucuses. His new strategy is to focus on the convention, which will be a free-for-all bringing supporters from all the candidates and hopefully, allowing Mr. Gingrich to catch some swing voters and/or supporters of other candidates. It is also reported that Mr. Gingrich will be personally calling delegates to persuade them to support him at the Republican National Convention, which sounds a bit...tacky.

[ALSO READ: 5 Reasons Newt Should Quit]

A CNN/ORC International poll released Tuesday showed that a majority of Republicans think Gingrich should quit.

Well, I’m sure most people in America, regardless of political power, would prefer the same.

The Republican National Convention begins August 27th and ends August 30th.

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