Poor Newt!

Citing policy disagreements and questions about his personal committment to the race, Newt Gingrich's entire senior staff has resigned en masse.

"Strategic differences," says the former House speaker, who insists that he is totally committed to the campaign.

Gingrich's campaign co-chair, former Georgia governor Sonny Perdue, has reportedly signed on with rival Tim Pawlenty.

Mr. Newt's campaign has seemed snake-bit from the git-go. And it surely ranks among the most disasterous presidential campaigns in recent history.

As the article linked to above indicates, there have been some real diasters- including Vice-President Biden's campaign against his present boss in 2008, when the Veep complimented Mr. Obama on being a clean black man. And remember Gary Hart?

Rumors are that at least some of the former Gingrich staffers are looking to sign on to a potential Rick Perry candidacy. Perry is widely seen as too extreme to have a real chance at the White House; he seems to be one of the large number of Texans who believes  the urban legend that the treaty by which the Republic of Texas became one of the United States guarantees it the right to seceed from the Union.. And there are some real problems with his record- and  his predecessor's. George W. Bush is unpopular enough to make many voters hesitate about electing the guy who followed Dubyah into the governor's mansion in Austin.

A Perry candidacy would be a joke. And unfortnately, Newt's seems to be one. That's a pity, because he's one of the most original thinkers in the race.

ADDENDUM: Apparently, the joke is about to happen.

HT: Real Clear Politics