Gingrich on mass exodus: We'll see "who's right"

ATLANTA - Newt Gingrich is vowing to remain in the presidential race despite the walkout of his entire senior campaign staff. But whether he remains a viable candidate is in serious doubt.

Already, his opponents in the Republican field are scrambling to capitalize on the upheaval, courting disillusioned Gingrich donors and picking off key campaign supporters of the former speaker of the House of Representatives.

Shortly after news of the Gingrich staff exodus broke Thursday, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty was trumpeting word that one of Gingrich's national co-chairmen - former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue - had jumped ship and joined Pawlenty's White House campaign.

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Newt Gingrich's aides resign en masse

Two top staffers who fled Gingrich's campaign - including campaign manager Rob Johnson - have close ties to Rick Perry, ramping up speculation that the brash Texas governor could jump into the unsettled Republican race. Perry has so far said only that he is considering a White House bid.

Other contenders for the party's nomination to take on President Barack Obama in next year's election include former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Sen. Rick Santorum, Rep. Ron Paul and former Utah Gov Jon Huntsman, who had been Obama's ambassador to China.

Among the potential candidates who have not declared their intentions is Sarah Palin, the Republican 2008 vice presidential candidate.

Gingrich maintained he's still in the contest.

"I am committed to running the substantive, solutions-oriented campaign I set out to run earlier this spring," he said in a statement shortly after word broke of the mass staff exit. "The campaign begins anew Sunday in Los Angeles," where is to deliver what is billed as a major foreign policy address to the Republican Jewish Coalition.

On Friday, Gingrich told reporters that the mass resignation was due to a "strategic difference" over how to run the campaign. He reiterated that he wants to stay in the race and added, "we'll find out over the next year who's right."

But political strategists said the 67-year-old Gingrich - already mounting an uphill fight for the Republican nomination - now faces nearly insurmountable obstacles.

Rich Galen, a former Gingrich aide, said he doesn't believe his old boss, who was the House leader in the 1990s, can recover.

"It is coming to a quick and merciful end," Galen said, comparing Gingrich's comeback bid to "watching a really great prize fighter come back for one last fight that he never should have."

CBS News' chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer said Thursday that the former House speaker's series of missteps is likely too great to overcome.

"I think he better get another ladder because this hole that he was already in just got a whole lot deeper," Schieffer said. "I think he's done."