More bad news for Newt’s Gingrich’s foundering presidential campaign: His top two fundraisers have quit, bringing the count of deserters from his 2012 operation to a whopping 18, according to the AP. His fundraising is reportedly so anemic that the candidate has been reduced to giving up his corporate jets for commercial flights. (Hopefully they don’t seat him too far back.)
Newt’s campaign so far looks like a pretty obvious fiasco. But only if you assume that victory was Newt’s exclusive goal.
It’s also entirely possible that Gingrich–who has long demonstrated himself as a shrewd businessman and self-promoter–doesn’t mind lacking a serious campaign infrastructure so long as he is making headlines, appearing on TV, getting airtime in high-profile presidential debates. Why that’s? Try clicking on www.gingrichproductions.com/products. There, Gingrich is hawking a brand-new book, published only yesterday: A Nation Like No Other: Why American Exceptionalism Matters (presumably for those who have a vague sense that it’s supposed to matter, but need it explained to them). You can also buy any one of six different DVD movies, and elsewhere you can purchase any of his fourteen books–including an autographed copy of his “blockbuster” book, To Save America, for just $39.95. (An unsigned paperback edition now sells at Amazon.com for $6.50.) You might also try a “limited edition” box set of Newt’s historical novels for just $50. Another boxed set of Gingrich’s Rediscovering God in America films, complete with a book of photography by the multitalented Callista Gingrich, also goes for $50, complete with autographed certificate of authenticity.
It’s possible that Newt’s campaign will fail so badly that fewer people buy his products than they did before he ran. But it’s also possible that Gingrich adheres to the theory that almost any publicity is good publicity. And that he’ll hang in the race for as long as he can–or at least until those limited edition box sets run out.
