More bad news for former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich. On Tuesday, less than two weeks after his senior staff bailed on him, Gingrichs finance leadership team abandoned his campaign. Jody Thomas and Mary Heitman, both of whom were working on Gingrichs fundraising efforts, abandoned ship -- which is increasingly looking like it is sinking quickly. Reports out of Iowa note that Gingrich has done little in the way of replenishing his bench in the state that holds the first caucus, and his most recent campaign appearances have been mostly in Georgia and in the Washington, D.C., areas -- which are close to Gingrichs homes Doubling down on his commitment to winning the Iowa caucus, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota will be running ads on Fox News in six markets in the Hawkeye State. The ads will start to run inCedar Rapids, Des Moines, Omaha, Ottumwa, Rochester and Sioux City, and are scheduled to be on for a week Pawlenty is not the only former Republican governor who is running ads in Iowa. So is George Pataki, the former governor of New York who has left the door open to jumping into the Republican race himself. Pataki is affiliated with a group called No American Debt which ran ads in New Hampshire and is now up in the air in Iowa. Pataki himself was in Iowa this week and called for all candidates to take part in the caucus ...
Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton continues to insist he is pondering launching a bid for the Republican nomination but he has done next to nothing in terms of building a campaign. Despite that, Bolton took the gloves off on Monday to pound former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman who formally launched his presidential campaign on Tuesday. Bolton tore into the former Utah governor for serving as ambassador to China under President Barack Obama. Saying he will probably make up his mind about whether or not to run before Labor Day, Bolton said he would ignore Iowa and focus on New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada and Florida -- if he enters the race Unlike Huntsman and Bolton, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania shows no signs of abandoning Iowa. Santorum had a busy Tuesday, starting off with an appearance on Fox News. He then spoke to the Iowa State Senate Republican Caucus in Des Moines and took part in a meet-and-greet event in Creston in the afternoon. On Tuesday night, Santorum took part in an event sponsored by the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition in Council Bluffs For the moment, New Hampshire looks solidly behind former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts. Former Cheshire County Republican Chairman Juliana Bergeron, who was defeated by Jack Kimball to head up the GOP in the Granite State, endorsed Romney this week
The Obama fundraising efforts continue. On Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden headed out to his boss stomping grounds for fundraising events in Chicago. Biden was the main event at a fundraiser at Navy Pier which cost between $5,000 and $10,000 to attend. The vice president then appeared at an event for Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE), a group founded by Susan Axelrod, the wife of Obama strategist David Axelrod. Former U.S. Rep. Joe Scarborough also attended the CURE event Biden also sent an appeal out to Obama supporters on Tuesday, urging them to make a donation and be entered in a contest to have dinner with the president. Biden humorously noted that all he ever got was lunch with Obama Former U.S. Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska, who ran for the Democratic and Libertarian nominations in 2008, and has expressed some interest in taking on Obama in the primaries, slammed the president last week, comparing him to George W. Bush on foreign policy and in using American military power
While Bill Kristol opined this week that U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., would reconsider entering the presidential race earlier in the week, the senator repeated his commitment on Tuesday not to enter the contest Come Home America -- organized by Kevin Zeese -- backed an event in Washington earlier this week between liberals and conservatives who are critical of American military involvement overseas. Zeese had served as a spokesman for Ralph Naders presidential campaign in 2004. Nader, who has left the door open for yet another try at the White House, spoke at the event Looks like you can scratch Karen Kwiatkowski from the Libertarian ticket in 2012. The former Air Force officer and intelligence analyst turned libertarian punditis seriously considering running as a Republican for Congress in Virginia come 2012.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
