Newt Gingrich still has a couple of major events on his schedule, though it’s unclear who will be left to staff them after a mass mutiny of senior aides on Thursday.
On Sunday evening, Gingrich is set to deliver the keynote address a the Republican Jewish Coalition’s “Summer Bash” in Beverly Hills, California. The group already had listed his a speech as a “major foreign policy address” in e-mails to the media before Newt’s staff crisis, but Gingrich built it up even further on Thursday as a debut for his new-look campaign. He’ll share the stage with a number of notable Republicans, including Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Kevin McCarthy.
“I am committed to running the substantive, solutions-oriented campaign I set out to run earlier this spring,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “The campaign begins anew Sunday in Los Angeles.”
Monday will be an entirely different challenge as he’s scheduled to make his first appearance at the 2012 debates in New Hampshire, an event that will also feature debut performances from Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann. It seems likely he will receive questions on his campaign’s travails from the moderator.
It’s unclear at this point who will even be left to staff Newt at his events. Asked for a list of remaining key staffers, de facto spokesman Joe DeSantis gave TPM a one-word answer: “Pass.”
On the plus side, Newt will be tan and rested after a two week vacation in the Greek Isles with wife Callista. He has not made a campaign appearance since May 27 in South Carolina, but appeared via video at last weekend’s Faith and Freedom conference in Washington.
Benjy Sarlin
Benjy Sarlin is a reporter for Talking Points Memo and co-writes the campaign blog, TPM2012. He previously reported for The Daily Beast/Newsweek as their Washington Correspondent and covered local politics for the New York Sun.
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