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Gingrich Commits to Campaign After Senior Staffers Quit

Updated: 6:27 p.m.

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich vowed Thursday to press on with his GOP presidential campaign following the exodus of his senior staff.

“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,” according to a message posted on Gingrich’s Facebook page just after 3:30 p.m. EDT.

One hour earlier, several top Gingrich aides announced they were leaving, putting the Georgia Republican’s already faltering White House bid on life support. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty snapped up his campaign co-chairman, former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, according to Pawlenty’s presidential campaign. Gingrich’s longtime press secretary, Rick Tyler, is also reportedly resigning along with campaign manager Rob Johnson and other senior advisers.

Gingrich’s campaign stumbled from the start. His announcement event was blundered, glitter was thrown at him by gay rights activists, and he took heat from conservatives for declaring House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s Medicare proposal was “too big a jump” in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

The Associated Press first reported the news of the staff departures.

Gingrich returned from a Mediterranean cruise vacation with his wife earlier this week — another source of criticism for the former Georgia Congressman.

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