Newt to Return to Campaign Trail on June 8th

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who has been noticeably absent from the campaign trail since a Rotary Club luncheon in South Carolina on May 27, is expected to return to the stump for a screening of his documentary about Pope John Paul II in New Hampshire on June 8.

According to campaign spokesman Rick Tyler, Gingrich and his wife had scheduled a vacation long before he entered the race on May 11. “They had long scheduled time off early in the campaign,” Tyler told POLITICO’s Kendra Marr. “They spent a long time, really with no break, preparing for the campaign. This week was an opportunity to get away together, and they decided it was important to stick to that schedule. We’ll be back next week.”

Gingrich’s first couple of weeks on the campaign trail, which included a 17-stop tour of Iowa, a couple of days in New Hampshire and a visit to South Carolina, had been excruciatingly difficult, to put it mildly.

Gingrich, who faced resistance from within his own party even before announcing his candidacy, was widely lambasted by Republican congressional leaders and others for criticizing Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget proposal as “right-wing social engineering” — a remark for which he later apologized.

He was also mercilessly dogged by reports that he and his wife had a $500,000 revolving charge account at Tiffany & Co., the high-end jeweler that caters to the wealthy.  It’s a story that shows no signs of disappearing any time soon.

Gingrich has been running in the middle of the pack in most recent national polls, including one released by Public Policy Polling on Thursday, which showed the former Speaker of the House tied for fifth place with U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and Minnesota’s Michele Bachmann with 9 percent of the vote — seven points behind Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin, who tied for first, and four percentage points behind former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Gingrich, who will turn 68 in two weeks, also trailed Herman Cain, the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, who placed a surprising fourth in the national survey with 12 percent.