Newt Gingrich’s 2012 Campaign Implodes

Flickr/<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/5438140228/sizes/z/in/photostream/">Gage Skidmore</a>

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The latest news out of Newt Gingrich’s faltering presidential campaign spells disaster for the former House speaker: Gingrich’s campaign manager, spokesman, and other key aides have all resigned en masse, the Associated Press reports. That includes Dave Carney, Gingrich’s top aide in New Hampshire, a critical state in presidential primary season, as well as paid staffers in Iowa and South Carolina.

The mass resignation comes as Gingrich faced mounting attacks from all sides for his recent vacation in the Greek Isles with wife Callista, a trip he embarked on only weeks after officially rolling out his presidential campaign. In addition, Gingrich has been dogged by his characterization of Rep. Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan as “right-wing social engineering,” a claim he made on national TV, and by the revelation that he enjoyed a $500,000 line of credit at luxury jewelry company Tiffany.

According to Politico, the Gingrich staffers quit over what they called a “different vision” for the campaign, and said their resignation was “a team decision.” Rick Tyler, Gingrich’s long-time spokesman who resigned today, told the Huffington Post that “the expectation of what a candidate is was a little different, and the expectation of the time commitments.”

Soon after the resignations were first reported, Gingrich’s campaign blasted out an email to supporters titled “Newt is Committed to Running a Solutions-Orientated Campaign.” In the email Gingrich writes, “I am committed to running the substantive, solutions-oriented campaign I set out to run earlier this spring. The campaign begins anew Sunday in Los Angeles.”