Newt and Callista Gingrich were standing on a street corner, an aide snapping pictures, as they waited for yet another campaign day to begin. A swarm of photographers gathered — a block away to capture the arrival of Michele Bachmann.
“The attention comes and goes,” Mr. Gingrich said, reciting rhythms of the Republican presidential race. “Sometime around October and November, it will settle down and be a race.”
Mr. Gingrich, who has spent the last month trying to reassure supporters and donors that his campaign is alive and well, arrived at the annual Fourth of July parade here wearing a striped shirt and a smile.
While he conceded that “the hardest thing is raising money,” he declined to answer specific questions about his finances.
“I don’t feel any worse than Reagan felt in ’76 or McCain felt in ’07,” Mr. Gingrich said. “It worked out just fine for them.”
There were no policy speeches, public campaign events or town-hall-style meetings on Mr. Gingrich’s itinerary during his visit on Monday. His aides said his schedule was intentionally flexible so he could hold one-on-one meetings with voters. It was a sharp departure from the pace he demonstrated nearly two months ago, when he staged a 17-city tour of Iowa.
Newt Gingrich, whose presidential bid has been beset by problems including the resignation of nearly his entire campaign staff, said on Monday that his upcoming fundraising report will be bleak.
“The fact is a month of media barrage is painful, and it slowed a lot of things down,” he said, before marching in a Fourth of July parade in Clear Lake, Iowa. “Our numbers will not be as good as we would like, and candidly, the consultants left us in debt. But every single week since they left we’ve been cutting down the debt, and we raise more than we spend in a week.”
Newt Gingrich has been trying to demonstrate an effort to rebuild his campaign, and one way was by getting his first finance co-chair in Iowa since the mass staff exodus of a few weeks ago.
Aides to Gingrich said he asked Greg Ganske, a former congressman who served in the House during Gingrich's tenure as Speaker, to serve in the position during a tea party event in Indianola.
Ganske has been out of Congress for several years, but Gingrich has made clear he plans to try to make a renewed effort in the Hawkeye State, spending a string of days there this month and next in the lead-up to the Ames Straw Poll.
The Washington Post also took a look at his approach on the stump over the weekend, which has favored "niche topics" and a string of free media appearances on Fox News and radio stations.
The "niche" topics, such as Alzheimer's, actually touch millions of Americans. More here.
