Home > Political Insider > Archives > 2007 > September > 15
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Odds “very high” Gingrich won’t run
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who said he’d announce next month whether he’ll run for president, is now playing down the odds that he’ll enter the race.
“I think the odds are very high that I won’t run” Gingrich was quoted as saying in Saturday’s Washington Post here.
“The only circumstance where I’d want to undertake a personal candidacy would have to involve the ability to raise enough money to be genuinely competitive in a race where my presumption is Gov. (Mitt) Romney can write a 50- or 60-million check,” Gingrich said.
Gingrich last week told The Washington Times that he’d need to raise $30 million before he’d run.
Never short on advice, however, Gingrich repeated his prediction that Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) would win the Democratic presidential nomination and told Republican candidates that if they want to beat Clinton next year they must separate themselves from President Bush.
“You think the Republican base is proud of New Orleans?” Gingrich said in reference to the federal government’s botched recovery effort during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
“The average Republican is pretty smart,” he said. “The average Republican is sitting out there saying, ‘This ain’t working.’”
