Gingrich Lays Off Third of Staff

Newt Gingrich's campaign staff is getting smaller as the GOP hopeful vows to stay in the race for the nomination until his party's Tampa convention, whether he's wanted there by voters or not.

Politico reported Tuesday night that the campaign had cut about a third of its staff and replaced its campaign manager in an effort to focus "exclusively on what it’ll take to win what we’re going to be calling a big-choice convention in August," as communications director Joe DeSantis told the Beltway outlet.

Former manager Michael Krull was replaced last weekend by Vince Haley, who was deputy campaign manager. Remaining campaign staffers are describing Krull's parting as voluntary and amicable. Other staffers will transition out of their jobs by the end of March. 

Gingrich campaign is short on cash and momentum. As Politico notes, last week's campaign finance reports showed that Gingrich had $1.55 million in debt, but only $1.54 million in cash on hand. And a new CNN/ORC International poll indicates that about 60 percent of Americans want Gingrich (and Ron Paul) out of the race.

By comparison, nearly the same percentage of Americans in the poll said they wanted Santorum to stay in the race. But as the Los Angeles Times notes, the poll results favor Romney overall. For example, 69 percent of those polled think Romney can win against Obama, but only 20 percent say the same for Santorum.