Senior Gingrich aides resign campaign en masse

Senior Gingrich aides resign campaign en masse

Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich's campaign manager, senior strategists and key aides in early delegate-selection states all resigned on Thursday, a mass exodus that leaves his hopes of winning the Republican nomination in tatters.

In response, Gingrich posted a message to his followers on Facebook: "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."

NBC News confirmed that spokesman Rick Tyler, campaign manager Rob Johnson, and strategists Dave Carney and Sam Dawson have left Gingrich's team.

Tyler told NBC, "There is a path to victory ... But there was a dispute on what that path to victory was." Tyler was with the former House speaker for nearly 12 years. "I have no regrets. I admire him deeply. I hope he does become president."

Carney also responded to NBC, saying, "The professional team came to the realization that the direction of the campaign they sought and Newt's vision for the campaign were incompatible."

Carney, who was heading up Gingrich's efforts in New Hampshire, is former aide to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who may be mulling his own White House run. And Johnson, Gingrich's campaign manager, ran Perry's election bid last year.

POLITICO reported that consultants Katon Dawson in South Carolina and Craig Schoenfeld in Iowa also quit Team Gingrich.

The Des Moines Register reported that all six of Gingrich’s paid staffers, including Schoenfeld, cut ties with the campaign in that early caucus state.

"You have to be able to raise money to run a campaign and you have to invest time in fundraising and to campaign here in the state and I did not have the confidence that was going to be happening," Schoenfeld told the newspaper.

Sources tell The Associated Press that Gingrich was informed that his entire high command was quitting in a meeting at his campaign headquarters in Washington. They cited differences over the direction of the campaign.

Scott Rials, a longtime aide who joined the departure, said he doubted Gingrich's ability to win the nomination. "I think the world of him. But at the end of the day we just could not see a clear path to win, and there was a question of commitment," Rials told AP.

Confusion resulted when he offered only a brief announcement of his new website during a heavily-publicized campaign appearance in March. News coverage of his formal announcement in May was largely overshadowed by his appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press, when he appeared to dismiss a GOP proposal to overhaul Medicare as “right-wing social engineering.”

He has battled questions about his personal life, most recently a POLITICO report revealing a high-dollar credit account with Tiffany’s luxury jewelry store.

Within days of his campaign announcement, he had dropped from sight, embarking on a cruise to the Greek Isles with his wife, Callista, while rivals for the Republican nomination kept up their appearances.

He returned to the United States earlier this week to confront a rebellion that had been brewing for some time among the senior echelon of his campaign.

NBC's Deputy Political Director Mark Murray contributed to this report.
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