The Washington Post reports that Newt Gingrich’s campaign has made substantial progress on paying off its debt from the early days of the campaign, but remains in the red to the tune of $600,000.
“By early fall, Gingrich had already racked up serious debts with lavish spending on private jets and luxury hotels, but at the time was largely dismissed as an unlikely Republican nominee for president… As Gingrich’s poll numbers have risen, so has his fundraising. While he raised just $800,000 in the third quarter of 2011, he brought in $9.8 million in the fourth quarter, according to records. His campaign has reported that he raised $5.5 million in January.”
Meanwhile, The Post is mapping out Gingrich’s strategy to stay in the GOP presidential race.
“He will focus heavily on upcoming contests in Southern states, where he expects his Georgia roots and conservative rhetoric to play well. And he will step up his attacks on his leading rival, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, for being too liberal to take on President Obama in the fall.”
But Politico says Gingrich “is starting to look a lot like Mike Huckabee. Running a seat-of-his-pants campaign that was short on cash but long on one-liners, the former Baptist preacher enjoyed early 2008 success, hit a rough patch and then had what turned out to be a meaningless rebound when the race turned to his native South.”
