It’s official: Bye bye, Newt Gingrich – hello, Mitt Romney

The Gingrich campaign took its last gasp today – and a Romney endorsement is most likely forthcoming:

Newt Gingrich officially suspended his GOP presidential campaign Wednesday – though it was more like another episode in the long goodbye that started weeks ago.

β€œIt has been an amazing year for me and Callista,” Gingrich, the former House speaker, said at a Hilton Hotel in northern Virginia. “Today, I am 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.”
Delivering a roughly 20-minute address, Gingrich vowed to, with his wife, remain β€œactive citizens,” as he looked back on the primary campaign and looked ahead to what challenges remain in America.

But he also declined to endorse Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination — meaning another announcement could still be on the way and potentially giving Gingrich another chance to deliver one of the extended monologues he is known for.

Even so, Gingrich has slowly slipped away from the limelight in the Republican race.
The campaign suggested in March that Gingrich might quit should he fail to win Mississippi or Alabama, but the campaign limped on. Aides then revealed last week that the candidate would be calling it quits – but pushed off the day of the announcement itself until Tuesday, then delayed that announcement until Wednesday afternoon.

Despite not endorsing Romney, Gingrich did make clear that his doubts during the primary campaign about Romney’s conservatism are dwarfed by his concerns about President Obama winning another term.
β€œThis 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.

Well, Mitt Romney was not my first, second, or even third choice. Perry was my original choice, then Newt, and now … well, we have Romney. Not ideal for me by a long shot, but as the old saying goes, we have to go to war with the army we have. I won’t be viscerally pro-Romney because I’m not, but I will always be staunchly anti-Obama. Time to put the shoulder pads and helmets on and get to work, peeps.

Are you with me?

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