For so many months, we have waited and waited for Newt Gingrich to resolve his many thousand "financial entanglements" and make up his mind on whether, after sixteen years of sidling up to the idea of running for president, he finally might make the plunge.
Back in March, it looked for all the world as if Gingrich was poised to make an announcement. But due to the aforementioned "entanglements," the announcement became an announcement about the possibility that further announcements might one day be announced. Everyone emerged from this unharmed yet completely bewildered.
The last we heard on the matter, Gingrich was going to announce his candidacy in Philadelphia sometime in May. (And that he had recruited shouty Georgia Democrat duellist Zell Miller to help!)
At last, fresh news emerged today, making it sound like Gingrich really is totally serious this time.
Let's check out Jim Galloway, at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, who spoke to Gingrich spokesman Rick Tyler about why Newt wasn't going to be participating in tomorrow's debate in South Carolina:
Entry requirements required a declaration of candidacy that Gingrich was not prepared to make, Tyler said. “We decided to stick to our time line.”
And what is that time line? Tyler wouldn’t say much, but Gingrich is scheduled to speak to Georgia Republicans at their state meeting on Friday, May 13. “By the time Newt speaks to the Georgia convention, he’ll be a candidate,” Tyler said.
So there you have it: A decision is imminent.
Unless it goes like other presumed-imminent decisions, in which case the decision is anything but imminent. Or maybe it's now double-plus imminent! Who knows? All I can say is that we're taking a "pics or it didn't happen" approach to anything involving Newt's candidacy, because he truly is the "summer camp girlfriend from Canada" of presidential aspirants.
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