Gingrich Chops Staff, Cuts Schedule

Cash-strapped candidate betting on Tampa
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 28, 2012 2:31 AM CDT
Gingrich Slashes Staff, Eyes Convention
Gingrich's communications director says the campaign will be “more positive and ideas-focused" from now on.    (Getty Images)

Newt Gingrich has shaken up his struggling campaign, but it doesn't look like he'll be dropping out any time soon. The candidate—short on cash and a distant third in the delegate count—is replacing his campaign manager, laying off close to a third of his staff, and cutting back his schedule, Politico reports. His communications chief says the campaign is switching focus to winning a "big-choice convention in August."

If Mitt Romney can't secure the necessary 1,144 delegates by the final primaries, "he will be unable to do so at the convention, where the vast majority of the delegates are conservative," creating an environment in which Gingrich can emerge as the one candidate who can "unite social, economic, and national security conservatives," says the aide. A pro-Gingrich super PAC funded by billionaire Sheldon Adelson is nearly out of cash, the Washington Post notes, and Gingrich has started charging supporters $50 to have their photo taken with him. (More Election 2012 stories.)

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