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Gingrich renting out his donor list in desperate attempt to raise cash
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Candidate
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| Contributor | Craverguy |
| Last Edited | Craverguy Apr 13, 2012 09:57pm |
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| Category | News |
| Author | Muriel Kane |
| News Date | Saturday, April 14, 2012 03:25:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Things haven’t been going well financially for would-be presidential candidate Newt Gingrich. First his think-tank declared bankruptcy. Then it was revealed that his campaign was so deeply in debt — to the tune of $4.5 million dollars — that it had had bounced a $500 check sent to the state of Utah to cover election filing fees. And now Politico reports that the campaign is so desperate for cash it’s resorting to renting out its donor list for as much as $26,000 per use.
“Campaign insiders attribute the problems partly to Gingrich and his wife Callista,” Politico’s Kenneth Vogel and Ginger Gibson suggest snarkily, “asserting that the couple was unwilling to downgrade from private jets and security details even as the campaign floundered. Insiders say Callista Gingrich required an entourage of at least two staffers – including one who dressed in an elephant costume to promote her children’s book – and a contracted security guard who followed her even on non-campaign trips.”
“They overspent to keep up the appearances of being a top-tier candidate,” a Gingrich consultant explained. “If you have a campaign bus and you’re flying in on a chartered jet, but you do not have the money for that, you end up sacrificing your ground game.”
If the Politico account it to be believed, the Gingrich campaign may be entering a death spiral. A campaign’s donor list is its most valuable assets, and shopping it around risks turning off supporters or making them more likely to donate to other causes. Gingrich has also been loaning his campaign thousands of dollars to cover his own travel expenses at a time when his personal financial empire is in trouble as well.
Gingrich spokespeople and allies insist that the campaign has not overspent wildly compared to the other Republican candidates, and that it will be easy for Newt to put his own financial house in order after the campaign because his failed run has made him “even more of a national |
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