Newt Gingrich: Says his presidential campaign is not dead

Newt Gingrich says his campaign is not dead.

Newt Gingrich talks about being an outsider.

WASHINGTON–Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had some business to take care of as he started his breakfast Monday with reporters. His GOP 2012 presidential primary campaign is not dead, he said at the session hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. Gingrich imploded last week when he said the Republican Medicare proposal, devised by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), was “right-wing social engineering.”

-Gingrich-who has lived and worked in Washington for decades–is casting himself as an outsider in his 2012 GOP presidential campaign. The strategy worked for President Obama, who as a U.S. senator ran against Washington all the way to the White House.

“I’m not a Washington figure, despite the years I’ve been here,” Gingrich said. I’m not sure what gray area Gingrich is seeing here. He is a former Speaker, for goodness sake and has been a guest at this breakfast–a Washington institution–36 times. “I’m essentially an American whose ties are across the country and is interested in how you change Washington, not how you make Washington happy.”