Newt Gingrich is finally taking a major step in his effort to win the key battleground caucuses in Iowa: Opening a campaign office there.
The Des Moines Register reports that Gingrich is opening an office in Urbandale, Iowa, a suburb of Des Moines, and that furniture is being moved in today.
The move may represent some key preparation by Gingrich, with the caucuses just 34 days away.
As the paper reports, this is a recovery of sorts after Gingrich’s campaign meltdown in June, which involved the en masse resignation of many top aides, including his whole paid Iowa staff at the time.
And in fact, some of those staffers are now coming back, after previously working for other candidates:
The campaign has rehired Katie Koberg and Craig Shoenfeld, who were on the staff in June before the campaign ran into financial problems, due in part to what employees noted as lackadaisical fundraising and Gingrich’s decision to take a private plane to chauffeur him and his wife Callista to multiple Iowa campaign events.
Koberg is a new Iowa communications and event planner while Schoenfeld will work with voter contacts. Schoenfeld had worked for Americans for Rick Perry after leaving Gingrich’s campaign in June. That group worked to recruit Texas Gov. Rick Perry to run for president.
The campaign has also hired three other Iowa staff members, which will be announced later, Koberg said. Additionally, some of the campaign’s national staff will move to Iowa in coming days, she said.
