Newt Gingrich stood athwart Mitt Romney’s inevitable nomination and yelled, “Stop!” in Delaware on Tuesday, where the former speaker had planned to rebound with a surprise showing. Undeterred, the Romney train ran right over him without a second thought, besting him by more than a 2-to-1 margin in the First State and with similarly blowout numbers in the four other states that held contests Tuesday.
The performance was indicative of most of the last few weeks for Gingrich. While Romney has been busy with his victory lap, collecting high-profile endorsements and getting into daily sparring matches with President Obama on matters big and small, Gingrich has shambled on in the background with his zombie campaign.
His candidacy neither dead nor quite alive (but mostly dead), the former speaker at least conceded he’d “reassess” his options after a loss in Delaware. On Wednesday morning, he came about as close as he could to conceding without going all the way, saying it was “very clear” at this point Romney would be the nominee and that he’d campaign this week as a “citizen,” per Fox News. “We’re working out the details of our transition, and we’ll have information for the press in the next couple days,” Gingrich said, according to ABC. Aides went even further, telling CNN that he’d officially drop out next week.
“I think obviously that I would be a better candidate,” Gingrich said. “But the objective fact is the voters didn’t think that.”
Objective facts haven’t figured too big into his calculation thus far, however. At a library in North Carolina on Monday, his next big target state after Tuesday’s primaries, Gingrich said it was “presumptuous” of Romney and “insulting” to prance about acting like he’s already the Republican standard-bearer. CBS’s Lindsey Boerma captured what’s left of Gingrich’s campaign well with a photo of the North Carolina speech — the candidate, standing next to a threadbare microphone stand, delivering a speech to his wife, four young children, and seemingly no one else.
As Gingrich moves forward to his “reassessment” phase, the following are some numbers, or “objective facts,” that he might want to take under advisement.
Zero
That’s the number of Gingrich staff who received a salary in March, according to the latest FEC report from the campaign, down from 33 in February. Gingrich spokesman RC Hammond assured TPM that he was still being paid, but his check came the day after the filing period. Hammond said that some others were receiving various fees as contractors, as opposed to full-time salaried staff. He put the total number of Gingrich staff at “about 10.” As for on-the-ground staff in primary states: one total, in upcoming North Carolina. And there’s an asterisk: “He’s from there, so it’s pretty much home.”
Zero
The number of radio and television advertisements the campaign is currently running, per Hammond.
$4.3 Million
The campaign’s total debt at the end of March. Cash on hand: $1.5 million.
04/03/2012
The date of the last television ad by Winning Our Future, the pro-Newt Super PAC primarily funded by billionaire Sheldon Adelson and family members that has provided the bulk of Gingrich’s air support in primary states, per a Democratic media tracker. According to FEC filings, Winning Our Future hasn’t given a legally required 24-hour notice for a new independent expenditure since March 29.
03/21/2012
The last recorded donation from the Adelson clan to Winning Our Future: $5 million from Adelson’s wife, Dr. Miriam Adelson. A week later, Sheldon Adelson said that Gingrich was “at the end of his line” and that, regarding his delegate strategy, “mathematically he can’t get anywhere near the numbers and there’s not likely to be a brokered convention.” A spokesman for Winning Our Future said he was not aware of any subsequent donations from Adelson family members, but couldn’t say for sure.
Add it up and you have a campaign with negative amounts of money, next to no staff and dependent on a lone benefactor who looks like he’s already cut them off. But if Romney doesn’t have to worry about losing the nomination to Gingrich anymore, he should at least be concerned about getting near him: If a zombie bites you, you turn into one.
