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ARLINGTON, VA -- Newt Gingrich finally ended his presidential bid on Wednesday at a hotel just outside of the nation's capital, where he once led the Republican Party in Congress.
Newt Gingrich end his run for president on after winning only two of the dozens of nominating contests in the Republican primary race. Watch his entire speech.
After a week of broadcasting his intent to suspend his campaign -- including the release of a video earlier this week thanking supporters and previewing the announcement -- Gingrich formally ended his bid for the Republican presidential nomination at an event his campaign had billed as a "press conference to announce suspension of campaign."
Benjamin Myers / Reuters
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich speaks next to his wife Callista Gingrich as he suspends his presidential campaign May 2 in Arlington, Va.
"Today, I'm suspending the campaign but suspending the campaign does not mean suspending citizenship. Callista and I are committed to be active citizens. We owe it to America. We owe it to Maggie and Robert," Gingrich said, referring to his only two grandchildren, here in his home state of Virginia.
Once bitter rival of Mitt Romney, the presumptive GOP nominee, Gingrich vowed during his 26 minute speech to do whatever possible to beat Barack Obama but came short of actually endorsing Romney.
"I'm asked sometimes is Mitt Romney conservative enough. And my answer is simple: compared to Barack Obama? You know, this is not a choice between Mitt Romney and Ronald Reagan. This is a choice between Mitt Romney and the most radical leftist President in American history," Gingrich said while addressing roughly 100 members of the media inside the Hilton Hotel.
Romney said in a statement: "Newt Gingrich has brought creativity and intellectual vitality to American political life. During the course of this campaign, Newt demonstrated both eloquence and fearlessness in advancing conservative ideas. Although he long ago created an enduring place for himself in American history, I am confident that he will continue to make important contributions to our party and to the life of the nation."
Gingrich’s spokesman said an official endorsement of Romney is still to come.
The news was far from surprising, given the way the former House speaker had been openly discussing the prospect of his exiting from the race ever since he finished poorly in the Delaware primary.
After finishing nearly 30 percent behind Mitt Romney in DE -- a state Gingrich frequented leading up to the election -- the speaker basically gave two concession speeches while campaigning in North Carolina last week. He began calling Romney the "nominee" and said it was time to "be honest about what's happening in the real world as opposed to what you would like to have happen."
Gingrich's campaign had been considered virtually dead for weeks, though the winner of the South Carolina and Georgia primaries vowed to contest the nomination all the way through the Republican convention this summer in Tampa. Gingrich had assailed Romney's conservatism, and, to boot, President Obama's campaign circulated a video this morning featuring the ex-speaker's greatest hits against Romney.
That said, the month of May is far later in the election cycle than most political observers thought Gingrich would last. After suffering missteps in the launch of his campaign, most of Gingrich's senior staff quit on him last June.
Gingrich must also still work to erase millions of debts incurred during his campaign, mostly during its tail end.
But at today’s event, the Speaker seemed cheerful and unfazed by the $4 million hole he is in. He rather spent time talking about one of his most memorable ideas from the past 10 months – his proposed moon colony.
“My wife has pointed out to me approximately 219 times, give or take three, that the moon colony was probably not my most clever comment in this campaign. I thought, frankly, in my role providing material for Saturday night live it was helpful but the underlying key point is real,” Gingrich joked.
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About time Don Quixote. ;-)
And on another note, Good Grief the comments here are sickening. So much hate and venom from both sides. I blame our politicians for the Great Divide among our people. To vilify and demonize an opponent is the only way to win it seems. Rather than provide civil discourse about the issues, they paint their opponent (Both sides do this) as the anti-Christ bent on the destruction of America. Just listen to Newt "The most radical leftist President in history."
And the American people BELIEVE it.
Our political system is broken, probably beyond repair.
One other note; if the GOP wins the White House, mark my words, the Dems will do EXACTLY what the GOP has done to Obama. They will work to make Romney a one term President at the expense of the well being of America. Just as the GOP has done for the last 3 1/2 years. It's all about power now, not about what is good for America.
I am glad to see that Newt has finally decided to drop out. I hope he stays on call as Mitt will surely seek the his advice on issues win he wins.
Don't get me wrong I didn't want to see Newt win, I think he has a serious trust issue, but you don't spend as many years in Washington as him and not learn a few things about politics.
I'm sure that Mitt will surround himself with the most competent people available and not just a bunch of brown nosing Yes men and women like Obama.
Brown nose ... wouldn't that be referring to Obama!! Doesn't he look like JJ from "Good Times!"
No zman, he doesn't....
Sure, like GWB surrounded himself with some great people. And didn't listen to a damn one of 'em.
Jim-356239 - I'm no fan of GWB but you have to admit he did have some great people with him, Powell , Rice, etc. These were and are key players.
Newt is the more reasonable and more conservative than Romney who is confessiing all the times, including Romney said that he was a friend of corporate.
It is sad that to see GOP has lost their best one.
As I said 6 months ago, for the GOP, this election was always about Romney!! Based on Obama's failures, mostly in the economic and employment arena, the GOP needed a guy who has a track record of economics and business. Mitt is the guy that can say comfortably ... "Obama, you completely screwed up and here are a dozen reasons why."
Mitt just stick to the list of f*ck-ups from Obama and you can waltz into the Whitehouse!!
zman, is anything you say based in facts? Or are you just pulling this out of your a$$?
yea too bad Obama couldn't fix 10 years of Republican screwups in 3 1/2 years
JohnRN - Yea too bad and thank God, I don't think I could afford much more of Obama's fixing things. He is too expensive of a handy man. $5.6 Tiillon in 3.5 years.
It wasn't a presidential bid it was a book tour. Also, does this mean no moon base?
Adios amigo.... Goodbye to a relic of the past.
When you cause the other guy to fail, do you win? Or do we all lose?
YEAAAAAA YEAAAAAA YEAAAAAA YEAAAAAA YEAAAAAA YEAAAAAA YEAAAAAA YEAAAAAA!!!!
Don't let the door hit you in the A$$ or your wife in the hair on the way out
Good Ridance!!
Have to agree with wayne - the whole radical left notion is pure bs and just more of the typical lies and distortions of the Repubs - unfortunately because they are orators they sway people who are innocent and who do not investigate things first hand for themselves- the egomaniac has only been promoting himself, his mistess turned wife and their books from day one -and I expect they will continue to USE their platform to do more of the same - oink oink
I'm wondering if Calysta's hair can be used as a new type of Football helmet?
Doesn't old Newt do this every four years? And won't he do it every four years forever more?
Oh, here it is
"Although he long ago created an enduring place for himself in American history, I am confident that he will continue to make important contributions to our party and to the life of the nation."
only Romney says it with so much more eloquence.
Is that really his wife in that picture? She looks like a plastic mannequin, hair and all.
Oh damn, he was so entertaining despite having nothing to say. Maybe he'll be back in 2016!
Zman - Maybe if you donate enough money to the GOP they will strap you on top of the campaign bus and let you travel with your thoughtful rich boy Mitt.... Bark Bark.... You want this type of person the lead the free world??? Really??
I'm already a campaign supporter of Romney. Being in the 1% and having my money in the Cook Islands .... it really doesn't matter to me who wins. I'm just thinking of the middle class and my nieces and nephews and what is best for them. A lying, bag of wind isn't my first choice!! At least Romney knows how to bridge the gap between the Dems and the Repubs ... so maybe Romney can pull together Congress. With Obama .. there's no chance and the vote will always be split because he's such an arrogant, full of sh!t Dem!
Zman - So happy for your 1% self and your money in the Cook Islands. How many times have you posted this crap about yourself? Everyone thinks you're crazy.
It's about time that he woke up.
What a worthless tool glad to see you go.
'Suspending our campaign' - isn't that the far right wing's way of saying 'America doesn't want us enough to give us the nomination, we finally realize that and are quitting'???
Or is it just so that they can say they aren't the losers that they really are?
Osoma, ...... Obama ... c'mon tell me they aren't related somewhere down the line!! They are distant cousins. I'm sure of it!! Think about it .. can you believe that we have a President name Barack Obama?/ What the F*ck are we thinking?
Give it up Ditto Head....You sound like a Timothy McVeigh...
The difference between Osama and Obama is a little bs!
zman said:
Osoma, ...... Obama ... c'mon tell me they aren't related somewhere down the line!! They are distant cousins. I'm sure of it!! Think about it .. can you believe that we have a President name Barack Obama?/ What the F*ck are we thinking?
Absolute certainty is a privilege of uneducated minds and fanatics... BTW this idiot misspelled Osama....
I hope this isn't some sort of bad joke . . . LMAO!!! . . . I'm sorry, that's about all I can do at this point . . . I'm totally "Newtied" out! I've been Newtified . . . this old, wrinkled, lying, grandiose, borderline-obese excuse of a man -- who bares a striking resemblance to Susan Boyle I might add -- has been a thorn in my side since day one. I won't believe it until I see the Newtster and his child bride Callista hop in their Hatchback and ride off into the sunset . . . I really would have preferred the word "ended" though, rather than "suspends" . . . that still give him a little wiggle room for a comback or some such idiotic thing. He's just loaded with surprises.
Hey knucklehead .... he's out of the race. Get on to the current news!!
What he "owes" is 5 million for his failed campaign.
The check-bouncer, serial adulterer, moon colonizer has met reality and reality has won.
It is tough when one doesn't have George Soros funding his campaign like Obama does.
Why can't he say that he's officially putting an END to the nomination?
Oh yea, just saying he has suspended means that he can still collect on them campaign $$. Just another Republican piece of insider shiznic.
It's to bad Gingrich had so much baggage leading into this, otherwise he would be the front runner instead of Romney.
Zman - Your an Idiot and I doubt a 1%r. That is like saying your boy is related to a baseball glove...........
I'm going to miss Callista's wired hair....I wonder if she ever lets "her hair down," as the saying goes?
Good riddance. The last thing we need these next four years is an ideologue - conservative of liberal. Romney has proven he can work from the middle when he was the Republican governor with a legislature that was 85% Democratic. That he made his fortune closing or revitalizing failing corporations makes him the ideal candidate to clean up the bloated, corrupt, incompetent federal bureaucracy - which is the executive branch responsibility.
Gosh that was a scare having him (Newt) near being the GOP candidate. 30% of the people want Romney, 30% want Obama and 40% of us want some else. Both parties are chasing the electoral votes instead of the majority popular vote. So again, we will have a winner who doesn't have a majority of the popular vote and many, many voters will stay away from the polls.