GOP Donors Deserting Newt Gingrich

WASHINGTON -- Newt Gingrich's catastrophic first week as an official Republican primary candidate may knock him out of the race before it even gets started. And if he stays in, fundraising will now be much more difficult, and that could hasten his exit, Republican sources said.

The former House Speaker from Georgia's once biggest advantage over other long shot candidates -- an established fundraising network -- is withering before his eyes.

"The last 48 hours have called into question if Newt can even make it to July 4, because his fundraising is going to dry up," said one veteran Republican strategist. "No serious finance bundler is now going to step forward in such an organized campaign and take a leadership role."

Another Republican operative said he had spoken with an old friend of Gingrich's in the South who had been planning a fundraiser for the campaign. There were 18 co-chairs for the event until Gingrich's appearance on "Meet the Press" Sunday, where he labeled Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wisc.) proposed budget "radical" and "right-wing social engineering."

"He said like 13 of them dropped off within 24 hours of 'Meet the Press,'" the GOP source told The Huffington Post.

The full impact on Gingrich’s fundraising will not be clear until mid-July, when second-quarter reports are due to be filed with the Federal Election Commission. A disappointing haul could be a knockout blow.

Gingrich aides declined to comment on their candidate’s ability to raise money going forward, and Gingrich’s finance chairwoman Gay Gaines did not respond to a request for comment. Gingrich’s advisers have said in the past that they hope to pull in $30 million for the primaries. Just last year, Gingrich’s 527 group, American Solutions, raised $28 million.

But that was before Gingrich’s week from hell.

"Clearly if somebody was on the fence about whether they wanted to donate $100 or $50, the last four days they would have said, 'Maybe I’ll just hold on to it,'" Rich Galen, a former Gingrich adviser, told The Huffington Post.

It began with Gingrich’s charged comments about the Ryan plan, which have prompted an outpouring of criticism from conservative leaders as varied as House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Gingrich apologized to Ryan and went on Fox News to say, "I made a mistake."

But Gingrich’s troubles compounded when Politico reported Tuesday that he had owed Tiffany’s between $250,000 and $500,000 for jewelry. The same day, a gay rights activist added insult to injury by dumping glitter on Gingrich at a Minnesota book signing to protest the former Speaker's views on gay marriage.

Video footage also surfaced of a conservative Republican in Iowa, Russell Fuhrman, confronting Gingrich in a hotel lobby on Monday.

"What you just did to Paul Ryan is unforgivable," Fuhrman said. When Gingrich protested -- "I didn't do anything" -- Fuhrman savaged Gingrich while continuing to shake his hand.

"You're an embarrassment to our party. Why don't you get out before you make a bigger fool of yourself?" Furhman said as Gingrich slinked away.

Wednesday brought more ridicule. Gingrich's spokesman’s bizarre comment to HuffPost, blaming media "literati" and the "political elite" of trying to sideline Gingrich, went viral and became instant political comedy fodder. The Wall Street Journal speculated that the lengthy and overly dramatic statement from Gingrich spokesman Rick Tyler might have been written by the candidate himself, but Tyler claimed the words as his own.

The calls for Gingrich to step aside grew louder Wednesday.

"It’s time for Newt to disappear into the background. His moment has passed, and this tailspin has been decades in the making," wrote conservative blogger Tabitha Hale on the popular blog RedState.com.

Longtime Republican ad-maker and political consultant Alex Castellanos also called on the GOP to discard Gingrich in order to "release the past and inherit the future," in an op-ed published by The Daily Caller, a conservative news site.

"The opponent Obama needs to run against, the only one he can beat, is the old, uncaring Republican," Castellanos wrote. "It is not a caricature he needs to create. It lives, it walks, it breathes. It’s the Gingrich."

Comments

[Sad But True]

03:17 PM on 05/25/2011

Somewhere, Mitt Romney's empty suit is chuckling.

[nogopers]

11:26 PM on 05/27/2011

and his flips are flopping and his waffles simmering.

[doublerainbow]

06:02 PM on 05/21/2011

Let's see how much more damage he can do on Sunday's Face The Nation!

[freddsky]

04:49 PM on 05/21/2011

Cheer up, Newt! They'll be back. All you have to do is grovel and snivel and blame the press for misquoting you with your exact words! If that doesn't work just point to your past record as Speaker of the House.....

ummm, what is your day job, again??

[paid troll]

09:04 AM on 05/21/2011

the self titled "intellectual" doesn't seem all that smart these days, does he?

[katylied]

11:59 AM on 05/20/2011

Looks like Newt's Little Blue Box just got stuffed with a pink slip..

[kjohney]

06:44 AM on 05/20/2011

”GOP Donors Deserting Newt Gingrich”

The man stops lying for thirty seconds, and this is the thanks he gets?

[egad57]

02:03 PM on 05/20/2011

Good one, yet very funny

[BMcCue7]

08:51 AM on 05/21/2011

Yes it is.

[hollace]

06:03 AM on 05/20/2011

His 3A.M. phone call woud be from Tiffany's asking for payment ...or a Repo man checking to see if he's home...

[namaholston]

11:28 PM on 05/19/2011

As a historian, a statesman and a candidate for President Newt is MORE that qualified to hold that position. He is very familiar with the entire process and he is brilliant in history as well as the Constitution/Law, but Newt has a dismal record of personal life and because people who don't like the Republican Party would never vote for him if his life was spotless he would not be elected. I am OK with that if both sides of the aisle would "VET' every candidate. If the moral issue, the constitutional eligibility, the experience in government or military, coupled with honesty and integrity were obvious in a candidate, regardless of party affiliation what intelligent person would hesitate to cast his vote for that person?

[a space alien]

11:57 PM on 05/19/2011

What's his position on key social issues like same_sex marriage, education, planned parenthood, equal pay for women, DADT, rights for same_sex partners to visit each other at hospital?

[hollace]

05:56 AM on 05/20/2011

I don't think Newt is a Historian. He has his own agenda and then looks for facts to back it up. He's only a statesman to Repubs....but Hey,,,they also think Palen and Joe the Plumber are. As a candidate for Pres. ...it was probably on his bucket list and he's willing to put out the same energy as if it was a bungy jump.. Wake up....get dressed...climb on the plane...jump. Nothing more.......nothing less.

[Rita Foster]

11:07 PM on 05/19/2011

Newt has just left the building...excuse me, excuse me...NEWT! This way hon, the door is this way...c'mon, c'mon, hon. HE MUST NOT HAVE ANY REAL FRIENDS, or they would have told him to stay out of the race. Now he looks like a lightweight.

[danceswithdata]

10:59 PM on 05/19/2011

Although it isn't my style to send good wishes to the GOP, I must say that for their sake, it is great that Newt will be kicked to the curb before he ever gets off the ground. When you are a hubris-ridden jerk of the magnitude of Gingrich, you need to be taken to task, quickly and without any concessions. He embarrassed his party, he embarrasses himself and his family, and the very best that can be said of him is that he is a colossal embarrassment to humanity. Run, Newt, Run, anywhere but toward the presidency.

[AllowMeToObserve]

10:59 PM on 05/19/2011

Considering the B.S he put the Clinton Administration through during his time as Speaker, I'm enjoying this. Karma, baby, sweet karma.

[dee50]

10:34 PM on 05/19/2011

For once Newt was right when he referenced the Republican party as the “Right Wing Social Engineering" regarding Ryan's Health Care, but Newt you must of forgotten Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment that you don’t speak ill of fellow Republicans..............

Bad boy to betray your party.....No more $ for you!

[llyd wlsh]

10:27 PM on 05/19/2011

money well drying up, rats leaving a sinking ship. sorry newt you've overstayed your 15 minutes of infamy

[Hooponopono]

10:07 PM on 05/19/2011

I've never seen the like of it in politics. I laughed myself silly watching Tuesday's Newt savagely attack Sunday's Newt.

[grasspress]

10:05 PM on 05/19/2011

this quote is funny:

"Longtime Republican ad-maker and political consultant Alex Castellanos also called on the GOP to discard Gingrich in order to 'release the past and inherit the future,' in an op-ed published by The Daily Caller, a conservative news site."

it's funny because for republicans the past is the future. this is the party that wants to take us back to the days of the robber barons and eliminate child labor laws and screw all working and middle class families to enrich the already enriched.

what a party!

[BMcCue7]

08:50 AM on 05/21/2011

That's right.

It's like Limbaugh said "Roosevelt is dead! His policies may live on, but we're in the process of doing something about that as well!"

The Right can be pretty clear about their intentions to take us back to the pre-Roosevelt era.