More on Newt

Jeff Zeleny and Trip Gabriel have an article in The New York Times about Newt Ginrich and his problems:

Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign imploded as his top advisers banded together and resigned, setting off a further exodus of aides and supporters and battering his hopes of a political comeback.
Mr. Gingrich vowed to carry on, saying that he was “committed to running the substantive, solutions-oriented campaign I set out to run earlier this spring.”
But the departure of nearly two dozen aides, including his entire Iowa operation, left him, for now at least, crippled in his ability to do much more than appear at debates or other public forums at a time when his main rivals were busy raising money and building organizations in crucial states. And it injected fresh uncertainty into the Republican nominating contest amid continued talk that further candidates might jump in.
Mr. Gingrich’s senior strategists confronted him after he returned from a two-week vacation with his wife, Callista, which included a cruise through the Greek isles. Mr. Gingrich defended his holiday as a chance to “get away and think”, but aides chastised him, they said, for lacking the discipline to run a focused presidential campaign that could overcome rising doubts about his candidacy.
“The professional team came to the realization that the direction of the campaign they sought and Newt’s vision for the campaign were incompatible,” said David Carney, a senior strategist who was among those who submitted their resignations.
Many Republicans had long seen Mr. Gingrich as something of a vanity candidate, not really expecting to win the party’s nomination, but viewing the race as an opportunity to draw attention to his policy ideas, books, and documentaries. His aides described him and Mrs. Gingrich as not doing enough to dedicate themselves to the hard work and the unglamorous aspects of running for president.
For some candidates, the departure of an entrenched team of advisers could provide an opportunity to regroup, but Mr. Gingrich could face tougher going after these setbacks. His aides said that he was struggling to raise money, recruit staff and be seen as a top-tier candidate.
Former Governor Sonny Perdue of Georgia, a national co-chairman of the Gingrich campaign, withdrew his endorsement and said he would support Tim Pawlenty, a former governor of Minnesota.
The repositioning in the Republican contest unfolded on several fronts. Mitt Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, said he would not compete in the Iowa Straw Poll, a traditional test of strength, which he won four years ago.
The shakeup surrounding Mr. Gingrich shone a new light on the intentions of Governor Rick Perry of Texas, who is taking a serious look at joining the Republican presidential race. Two of the strategists who parted ways with Mr. Gingrich— Mr. Carney and Rob Johnson, the campaign manager— have also worked for Mr. Perry and could now play a key role in his decision. Mr. Perry is scheduled to appear before Republican audiences next week in California, New York, and Louisiana, all of which offer an opportunity for him to explore the fund-raising potential should he decide to move forward with a candidacy. His spokesman, Mark Miner, said the resignation by Mr. Gingrich’s aides would not affect Mr. Perry’s choice.
The breakup of the Gingrich team, which included a top-to-bottom slate of aides in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Washington, and Georgia, provided one of the biggest jolts yet to the 2012 Republican presidential campaign.
During a conference call on Wednesday, top strategists confronted Mr. Gingrich over what they believed was a lack of focus. They demanded that he spend ninety percent of his time in three early-voting states and curtail distractions like screenings of his documentaries. To underscore their complaint, Mr. Gingrich was taking the call from New Hampshire, where he was not introducing himself to voters who will take part in the nation’s first primary next year, but rather promoting a documentary on Pope John Paul II that he made with his wife. His arrival in New Hampshire marked his first public appearance in two weeks. While he was away on a cruise to Rhodes, Mykonos, and other Greek islands, Mr. Gingrich said that he wrote two policy speeches. “I don’t know how other people work,” Mr. Gingrich said in an interview. “To have a major breakthrough in policy, you have to be able to stop and think.” Several advisers pleaded with Mr. Gingrich not to go on the vacation trip, an aide said, but Mrs. Gingrich wanted to go. The aide, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal workings of the campaign, said, “We have a spouse who controls the schedule.” Campaign officials said that they were also growing deeply worried about expenses. In a three-day swing through Iowa last month, Mr. Gingrich spent $40,000 on a chartered Citation 10 jet, the aide said. Despite the free spending, money was tight, because traditional donors to Mr. Gingrich had told him they would not support his run.
Mr. Gingrich, 67, formally announced his candidacy on 11 May. Within days, he was engulfed by Republican criticism over describing the proposal to privatize Medicare— the centerpiece of the House Republican budget plan— as “radical change” and a form of “social engineering”. He also struggled to answer questions about why he and his wife had a line of credit of up to $500,000 for jewelry purchased at Tiffany & Company.
Rick Tyler, a long-serving communications director to Mr. Gingrich who was among those who resigned, said that he and other advisers had become especially worried with the candidate’s decisions about how and when to campaign. “The team that left had a different idea of what it would take to win,” Mr. Tyler said in an interview. “Everyone agreed there is a path to victory, but there was a disagreement about what that was.”
The advisers, who had been growing increasingly frustrated while Mr. Gingrich was away, decided to confront the candidate together. The defectors included several veteran advisers, as well as newly hired aides like Craig Schoenfeld, who was running his Iowa operation, Katon Dawson, a South Carolina adviser, and Sam Dawson, a political strategist.
Mr. Gingrich did not respond to the resignations beyond a brief message on his Facebook page. “The campaign begins anew Sunday in Los Angeles,” he said. He is scheduled to deliver a speech at an event sponsored by the Republican Jewish Coalition. He also intends to take part in a Republican presidential debate on Monday in New Hampshire.
Mr. Tyler, who has been at the candidate’s side for nearly a dozen years, conceded that Mr. Gingrich sometimes “puts unnecessary stumbling blocks in front of himself.” But he added that Mr. Gingrich was not lazy and that he might still be able to recover. “I hope he does well. He’s a great intellect,” Mr. Tyler said. “It’s sad. But it’s time to move on.”

Rico says that a great intellect does not a great President make; it's too bad the Republicans can't seem to come up with a candidate worth voting for...