Nearly a week after he signaled that he was considering leaving the GOP primary, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich officially announced today that he was suspending his campaign for president.

It was an up-and-down process for Gingrich, who endured losing nearly his entire campaign staff early in the campaign, finishing low in Iowa and New Hampshire, rocketing back to relevance by winning South Carolina, and then slowly being buried by Romney attack ads and a severe case of foot-in-mouth disease. It didn’t help when his ex-wife accused him of asking for an open marriage, or when he vowed to put a colony on the moon. He won Georgia, but lost ground to Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, who took up the Republican Party’s conservative mantle before he dropped out.

While he had support from former GOP presidential candidates Herman Cain and Rick Perry, they eventually threw their support behind Romney once it became clear the former Massachusetts governor was going to be the Republican nominee. What kept Gingrich in the race as long as possible was the support of Sheldon Adelson, a casino owner whose family put $16 million into the pro-Gingrich super PAC Winning Our Future, enabling him to remain in the public eye even as Gingrich’s own campaign ran $4.3 million into debt. Read 

Here it comes. On the heels of Barack Obama’s latest attack ad on Mitt Romney, and after pulling ads attacking GOP candidates from its YouTube account, the pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future is prepping a barrage of television ads.

According to a media analyst, the super PAC purchased up to $4 million in 30-second television ads in at least eight swing states crucial to this fall’s election. This would presumably take a significant bite out of Restore Our Future’s resources. The super PAC reported having $6.5 million cash on hand at the end of March. Of course, they have likely raised additional money since that report.

Romney’s own campaign had $10 million cash on hand at the end of April. This amount pales in comparison to Obama, who reportedly has $104 million in his war chest. Obama raised $35 million in March, compared to $12.6 million for Romney. Read 

Not surprisingly, “Change” won’t be President Obama’s official campaign slogan in 2012.

Instead, the president’s reelection team has debuted its new motto: “Forward.”

The slogan appeared in a seven-minute campaign video released on Monday, the Associated Press reported. The video is intended for political rallies. Included in it are highlights of the president’s accomplishments and a review of the economy when he took office in January 2009. Read 

President Barack Obama’s campaign has released a new advertisement today attacking Mitt Romney’s record on job-creation and accusing him of shipping jobs overseas.

The ad then goes on to say “It’s just what you would expect from a guy who had a Swiss bank account.”

The campaign is running the advertisement in three crucial swing states: Ohio, Iowa, and Virginia. In addition to targeting Romney, the ad hits at “Big Oil” for running anti-Obama ads, meant as a reference to efforts by conservative political action group Americans for Prosperity, financed in part by the Koch brothers. Americans for Prosperity recently began a $6.1 million campaign criticizing Obama’s “green energy” initiatives. Read