But in a steep obstacle to Gingrich’s comeback hopes, his campaign remains about a million dollars in debt. It will be a struggle for Gingrich to put his balance sheet in the black and fund the kind of operation traditionally required to compete in Iowa, where he has indicated he’ll attempt to turn his campaign around.
Gingrich supporters acknowledge that his debt represents a serious financial challenge, though they note that the Republican has paid down about 10 percent of $1.2 million in invoices since June 9, when most of his senior political staff resigned.
Gingrich himself has been up front about his financial problems, saying during a Monday visit to Clear Lake, Iowa: “The fact is a month of media barrage is painful, and it slowed a lot of things down … Candidly, the consultants left us in debt. But every single week since they left we’ve been cutting down the debt, and we raise more than we spend in a week.”
R.C. Hammond, the press secretary for Gingrich’s presidential campaign, shed new light on the arc of Gingrich’s financial woes, explaining that the presidential candidate only learned of the severity of his debt when a new campaign director reviewed the books after last month’s staff shakeup.
Since then, the campaign has been regrouping: Gingrich has taken cost-saving steps, such as flying commercial, and has focused on recruiting political professionals willing to volunteer their time to his effort.
Among those professionals is former Iowa Rep. Greg Ganske, who just signed on as Gingrich’s new Iowa finance co-chair.
“We’ve been weathering a storm and the ship is starting to right itself,” Hammond said. “The infusion of professionals volunteering their time and talent to the campaign is further proof we are weathering the storm and forging on.”
The reliance on volunteer support is not a sign of strength for Gingrich, but he is one of the few candidates in the field with both the universal name recognition and the fan base that makes significant unpaid campaign support a possibility.
Gingrich was tied for fourth place in Iowa in the recent Des Moines Register poll, taking 7 percent of the vote and trailing frontrunner Mitt Romney by 16 percentage points.