(Newser)
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For some reason, Newt Gingrich is still technically running for president, and for an equally mystifying reason, he hasn't dismissed the protective Secret Service detail he requested back in February, the Daily Caller reports. A source close to Gingrich's campaign says he has at least three guards watching him, and sometimes "many more. Some of the Secret Service members were even saying it was a waste of time," the source said.
That protection doesn't come cheap; while the Secret Service won't say how much Newt's protection costs, in 2008 its director told Congress that it cost $38,000 a day to guard each candidate, and that he expected it to rise to about $44,000 a day. The Secret Service says it doesn't get to pick whom it guards, but that Gingrich "meets the criteria for protection." A Gingrich spokesman insisted it was "not a waste of money," even though Romney is the presumptive nominee. "When the word 'presumptive' is removed from that sentence, we'll deal with the issue," he said.
