Gingrich Giving Up On Iowa?

Just last week, Newt Gingrich’s campaign said that he’d be spending the last week before the Iowa Caucuses on a whirlwind 44-stop bus tour of the Hawkeye State. Today, The Des Moines Register informs us that the tour isn’t quite that big anymore:

Newt Gingrich’s new Iowa tour has officially started but with greatly slimmed expectations.

The “Iowa Jobs and Prosperity Bus Tour” will make 22 stops between now and the Jan. 3 caucuses. That’s exactly half of the 44 he said he would make last week when announcing the tour during a stop in Davenport.

Spokesman R.C. Hammond said last week downsizing was to make sure the former U.S. House Speaker and 2012 presidential candidate can make all of his stops and have time to meet with Iowans rather than to jam an unruly number of stops into a whirlwind tour.

Hammond on Nov. 14th told The Register that Gingrich planned to spend about 30 days in Iowa between then and Jan. 3. He has spent 11 so far.  He will spend eight more between today and Jan. 3 for a total of 19.

This strikes me as an odd strategy for a campaign that says it’s in this thing to win it, and a candidate who could find himself in serious trouble if he comes off with an embarrassing showing in Iowa next Tuesday night.

FILED UNDER: 2012 Election, US Politics, , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. legion says:

    Look, Gingrich has the lead in the polls, a lock on the Iowa primary, and is the presumptive GOP nominee – he said so himself! How can you doubt that? Why can’t you people just shut up and give him the present already? These elections are so plebian…

  2. michael reynolds says:

    He is a transformative person, I don’t think you quite get it. Fundamentally he’s fundamentally different. Imagine him imaginatively, Doug, and realize that he is just so different that normal rules don’t apply to him.

  3. anjin-san says:

    Herman Cain is running a campaign like no other! Why can’t you people accept that? He will be the nominee. The smoking dude will be VP. Oh, wait. What day is it again?

  4. michael reynolds says:

    @anjin-san:
    Go smoking dude!

  5. legion says:

    @michael reynolds: I hear he’s being replaced on the ticket with National Security adviser Fox Mulder…