United Liberty

After an incredibly disappointing end to his campaign, including more than $4 million in debt, Newt Gingrich will officially “suspend” his presidential campaign next Tuesday at a press conference in Washington:

Newt Gingrich will officially end his bid for the Republican presidential nomination next week, his spokesman said Wednesday, and will back Mitt Romney in his bid to defeat President Barack Obama in November.

In a phone call Wednesday between the candidates, Gingrich told Romney that he planned on suspending his campaign next week, Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said.

Details are still being worked out, but Gingrich is likely to hold his final campaign event Tuesday in Washington, D.C., where he will make the announcement surrounded by his family and supporters, according to sources close to the Gingrich campaign.

The decision to hold the event next week was made for logistical reasons, the sources said, adding that Gingrich told Romney in the phone call that he will try to help elect Romney in November.

When it’s all said and done, I believe Gingrich’s campaign will go down as one of the worst in history. He entered the race and received a decent amount of support. But then he made mistake after mistake, such as taking a two-week cruise instead of campaigning in early primary states. He lost key staffers because they didn’t feel his heart was in the campaign.

In May 2011, Gingrich made ill-fated remarks about Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget, calling it “right-wing social engineering,” which caused a major hit to his campaign that resulted in fundraising drying up for a short time. However, when Herman Cain dropped out of the race, Gingrich managed to find new life for his campaign. But a series of missteps, including his attacks on capitalism, and sheer arrogance brought him back to Earth very quickly. In the end, Gingrich only won two primaries, South Carolina and Georgia, and frequently finished in the bottom of the pack in other states.

The attraction to Gingrich was one that I couldn’t fully grasp. Yes, I realize that Gingrich was largely the brain behind the Republican Revolution in 1994, but his time as Speaker has been vastly overrated. In fact, as Stephen Slivinski has argued, Gingrich betrayed the Republican Revolution.

Santorum, also a big government conservative, was the last hope for the anti-Romney faction in the Republican electorate. After he dropped out, most had succumb to Romney as the GOP nominee. Why Gingrich stuck around, as pragmatic as he tries to be, is hard to understand, unless he was just trying to figure out a way to pay down his campaign debt.

It’s not likely that we’ve heard the last of Gingrich. He’ll no doubt be around as a commentator; and when the next big issue comes up, he’ll be the guy telling Republicans to do exactly the wrong thing, such as he did with Medicare Part D and TARP.

But for now, Newt, don’t let the door hit you in the back on the way out.