The fact that there haven’t been any debates in a while is starting to have an effect on the Gingrich campaign. Recent polling puts him in fourth place among the four candidates. Now the campaigns of other three candidates — Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul — have made a joint decision that could spell the end for the Gingrich campaign:
The seemingly endless string of Republican presidential candidate debates is not yet coming to an end, but the program is losing at least one act. The John King-moderated March 1 CNN debate scheduled to air from Georgia only a few days before Super Tuesday is no more. The Romney, Paul and Santorum campaigns told CNN on Thursday that they were all out, leaving Newt Gingrich as the only confirmed participant.
The CNN event in Georgia was to have been the only debate before the March 6 Super Tuesday primaries. Gingrich had hoped for wins in these states because many of them are rife with voters for whom his racist dog whistling has a big appeal, particularly his adopted home state of Georgia as well as states like Alaska, Idaho, Massachusetts, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Republicans in North Dakota, Ohio and Vermont also vote that day. (The Virginia primary will also be held March 6, but the Gingrich campaign failed to get on the ballot.)
Gingrich had hoped to rack up enough delegates on Super Tuesday to stay in the race and remain a contender through the summer. Now, because of the concerted efforts of his opponents, that is looking increasingly less likely.
