Gingrich staying in the race as wave of key 2012 staffers resign

WASHINGTON – Republican 2012 presidential candidate New Gingrich faced a momentous setback Thursday as a wave of his top staffers resigned together.

The Associated Press reported that "Rick Tyler, Gingrich's spokesman, said he, campaign manager Rob Johnson and senior strategists had resigned, along with aides in the early primary and caucus states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina."

The former House speaker showed no signs of bowing out of the race after the news broke.

"I am committed to running the substantive, solutions-oriented campaign I set out to run earlier this spring," he wrote on Facebook late Thursday afternoon. "The campaign begins anew Sunday in Los Angeles."

Gingrich recently returned from an extended vacation cruise around the islands of Greece. He left for that cruise after his scathing criticism of the House Republican Medicare invited a barrage of conservative attacks that damaged his prospects.

The ex-speaker's top New Hampshire aide, Dave Carney, told MSNBC's Chuck Todd that the "team came to the realization that the direction of the campaign they sought and Newt vision for campaign were incompatible."