To live and die in L.A.: Gingrich will try to recover with Beverly Hills speech

Newt Gingrich’s campaign begins anew—in, of all places, Beverly Hills.

The suddenly listing GOP presidential candidate, reeling from the mass defections of his senior campaign staff, will try to right his ship Sunday evening in Los Angeles, an unlikely springboard for a social conservative banking on winning the Iowa caucuses.

Gingrich will speak at the summer dinner for the Republican Jewish Coalition at the Beverly Hills Hilton—delivering what has been billed a major foreign policy address.

Following the unexpected departures of senior aides Rob Johnson, Sam Dawson and Dave Carney, Craig Schoenfeld, Katon Dawson and spokesman Rick Tyler on Thursday, Gingrich released a terse statement.

“I am committed to running the substantive, solutions-oriented campaign I set out to run earlier this spring,” he said. “The campaign begins anew Sunday in Los Angeles.”

That speech will now take place amid rising speculation that Gingrich’s presidential bid, hampered from the start by a series of missteps, is essentially finished.

(And as an aside to potential attendees of the dinner: The RJC website notes that the deadline for ticket and sponsorship refunds has passed.)

It won’t get any easier for Gingrich after the speech. From L.A., Gingrich will have to fly cross-country to New Hampshire for the first major debate of the 2012 campaign Monday night.

You might remember that “Saturday Night Live” in May cast Gingrich as in deep trouble even then. Was it a preview of what’s to come Monday?

Watch the video below: