Gingrich Iowa Staffers Bow Out

Politico reports:

Newt Gingrich’s entire team of paid Iowa campaign staff, as well as his national spokesman and senior aides in New Hampshire and South Carolina, have resigned en masse, a staffer told The Des Moines Register.

“You have to be able to raise money to run a campaign and you have to invest time in fundraising and to campaign here in the state and I did not have the confidence that was going to be happening,” said Craig Schoenfeld, the Iowa executive director of Newt 2012.

The departures immediately raised questions about the future of Gingrich’s candidacy. The Georgia Republican, a former speaker of the U.S. House, announced via an online video on May 21 that he’s seeking the Republican nomination.

Shortly before 3 p.m. today, Gingrich posted this message on his Facebook page: “I am committed to running the substantive, solutions-oriented campaign I set out to run earlier this spring. The campaign begins anew Sunday in Los Angeles.”

But there’s no one left in Iowa to organize for him.

Schoenfeld said all six of Gingrich’s remaining paid staff here resigned today: Katie Koberg, deputy director; Page Thorson, coalitions director; Daniel Weiser, field staff; Ryan Keller, field staff; and Joe Heuertz, field staff.

Will Rogers Gingrich’s Iowa political director who headed the grassroots effort here, resigned May 31.