Gingrich Is Cutting Staff to Shift Focus to Convention

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR and TRIP GABRIEL
NYT

Newt Gingrich is acknowledging that it is impossible for him to win the Republican presidential nomination outright and is cutting back on his staff and campaign schedule to focus on emerging victorious at the party’s convention this summer.

The change in strategy was described Tuesday night by Joe DeSantis, the campaign’s communications director, who said one-third of Mr. Gingrich’s staff would soon leave, including the campaign manager, Michael Krull. The changes were first reported by Politico.

Mr. DeSantis said Mr. Gingrich accepted that he could not win enough delegates to clinch the nomination before the convention. But the campaign believes that neither Mitt Romney nor Rick Santorum is likely to do so, either. In that case, Mr. DeSantis said, the campaign will enter a “tossup period” this summer.

“We’re going to make sure Newt is ready to win that 60-day period,” Mr. DeSantis said. “What we’re going to be doing is focus on a campaign strategy that takes it to Obama.”

(More here.)