Newt Gingrich campaign finance team quits
Republican presidential hopeful, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks to the Republican Jewish Coalition at their 2011 Summer Bash, June 12, 2011, in Beverly Hills, Calif. / AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
Updated at 4:55 p.m. ET
Two top fundraising aides for Republican U.S. presidential candidate Newt Gingrich have resigned, putting the former House of Representatives speaker's chaotic campaign into deeper trouble.
Finance director Jody Thomas was one of those to quit, Gingrich campaign spokesman R.C. Hammond said Tuesday.
Other key members of Gingrich's team, including his campaign manager, resigned on June 9, questioning his commitment to the 2012 presidential race after the candidate went on a Greek cruise with his wife.
Since launching his campaign in May, Gingrich has also angered his party by criticizing a congressional Republican plan to scale back the Medicare health insurance program for the elderly and disabled.
He also has fended off questions about why he had carried as much as $500,000 in debt to jewelry company Tiffany & Co from 2005 to 2006.
Gingrich will press on with his candidacy at an event Wednesday in Georgia, where he will call for revamping the Federal Reserve system, his spokesman said.
Other staffers will cover the fundraising duties left by the departing aides, Hammond said.
"They were part of the team. We have a half dozen staffers responsible for raising money," he said.
Gingrich, 68, was the main architect of the 1994 election victory that gave Republicans control of both the House and Senate for the first time in decades. He also was author of the party's "Contract with America" political manifesto.
He ended his 20-year congressional career after Republican losses in 1998 elections.
Gingrich has tried to ease concerns among the religious right about his personal life. Gingrich is married to his third wife, with whom he had an affair while married to his second wife.
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The politically slanted networks now hire ex politicians and current ones still in the game, Huckabee and Palin, to name a few. Sure they know the game but they also have a vested income in the outcome. Joe Scarborough, Chris Mathews, Mike Huckabee, Elliot Spitzer, Lawrence O'Donnell, Michael Steel. All were former paid politicians. Then there are the same paid pundits from Politico, Huffington Post, Slate, and the various conservative and liberal think tanks and publications.
Where are the outsider opinions? Are there any? MSNBC and Fox News are in fact preaching to the choir every night. So little changes except folks thinking they are right (or left) because these networks are reinforcing their opinions.
It's like convicting someone after hearing only the prosecution's opinion. Without hearing the defense, how can you justify your decision? I'm a liberal, yes I can say it, but I do watch, Beck and listen to Limbaugh. Difficult to say the least, but I can turn off the TV/radio knowing I made a fair attempt to hear both sides.
In future campaigns, candidates and those "thinking about it" publicly should have to be bonded before they can solicit funds of any kind. The bond to be forfeited if the Federal Election Commission determines a vanity campaign was launched with no intent to run. Hard to prove no doubt, but the threat should be there.
His campaign = toast
"Newtless, you may have impeached me, but you will NEVER be President of the United States. Stick a fork in it baby, because you are well-done!!"