Newt picks up Joe Barton's (R-TX) endorsement

Barton joins three from Georgia's U.S. House delegation -- Phil Gingrey, Jack Kingston, and Tom Price -- in endorsing Gingrich.

Barton is another Republican from Texas who is supporting Newt. Two members of Texas Governor's Rick Perry's 2010 re-election campaign -- Rob Johnson and Dave Carney -- will be Gingrich's campaign manager and top New Hampshire consultant, respectively.

Newt will run a local and state-based campaign, not a top-down approach

Ralph Z. Hallow of The Washington Times has some new (as far as I know) info about how Newt's campaign will be structured:

Mr. Gingrich has recruited some of his party’s most sought-after campaign strategists and advisers and will conduct a unique 50-state “10th Amendment campaign” that throws out the old model of regional political directors. The campaign will rely instead, he said, on leadership and direction in each state from people who live in the state and understand the nuances of local politics.

...

The Gingrich national campaign will set up “a fairly large headquarters in Atlanta” and a “fairly small headquarters in Northern Virginia.”

Instead of the division of the country into geographic regions with regional political directors, the structure typically employed by presidential campaigns, the Gingrich organization will use what the candidate calls the “10th Amendment campaign.”

It’s a reference, he said, to the Constitution’s “federalist” amendment that reserves to the states and local governments all power not specifically granted to the federal government.

“Everything stays in the states, instead of someone from Washington telling the local people how to do the things that the local people know more about.

“We expect New Hampshirites to help carry New Hampshire, Iowans to do the same for Iowa, South Carolinians to do the job for their state, and so on,” Mr. Gingrich said.

Most of the following I have already wrote about, but it is worth mentioning again:

There has been a methodical buildup of the Gingrich operation over the past few months even as some political observers openly doubted he actually would take the presidential plunge.

Mr. Gingrich has recruited people considered to be at the top of the game in politics.

Linda Upmeyer, Iowa’s first female House majority leader, will be chairman of his organization in Iowa, which will be the first state to hold a presidential nomination caucus next year.

He has locked up the services of two other sought-after advisers to Texas Mr. Perry: Craig Schoenfeld, who ran George W. Bush’s fundraising organization in Iowa in 2004, and Dave Carney, the New Hampshire-based political consultant.

He also has recruited former Polk County, Iowa, co-chairman and experienced campaign operative Will Rogers.

Former South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson, considered one of the state’s most talented political operators, will run Mr. Gingrich’s operation there, he said.

The idea to avoid a top-down approach is exactly the right way to go. It is the idea behind the free-market: let a lot of different people try different approaches and then others can pick up on what works best. It is the same kind of campaign that Barack Obama ran. As well as, in many ways, the campaign that made Obama's possible: Howard Dean's in 2004. Both campaigns had competent leaders at the top, but they did not dictate to supporters how to go about advancing their candidate. (What is remarkable is that liberals can easily see the value of bottom-up approaches in campaigns, yet when it comes to economic matters, they are just interested in the top-down approach.

Newt calling it the 10th Amendment campaign is a great message due to the rising attention being paid to the last amendment of the Bill of Rights with the explosion of federal government reach into areas that had not before been under its' domain.

Dave Carney of New Hampshire "to be heavily involved" in Newt's campaign

While calling Carney a "major player," Politico writes:

Carney, the former White House political director under George H.W. Bush, confirmed Friday what's long been widely rumored in New Hampshire political circles. After helping out with Gingrich's exploratory committee, he's planning to be heavily involved in the coming campaign, he said in an interview.

Carney said he believes Gingrich is the right man for the moment.

"I think we need big ideas," he said. "Now is the time for a big idea campaign. We're not going to win on micro issues or silly issues. We need big reforms, big ideas, a person who has a track record of big ideas."

A longtime ally of the Sununu family, Carney was Bob Dole's top consultant in 1996 and currently serves as the top political adviser to Texas Gov. Rick Perry. He's been spotted ushering Gingrich around New Hampshire in recent months.

Asked whether he believed Gingrich could win the presidency, Carney said, "Anybody can win." Americans, he said, are eager to toss out the Obama administration.

"Democrats are totally clueless when it comes to the middle of America, the flyover states," Carney said. "They just don't get it. That's why."

Rob Johnson as campaign manager, Joe Gaylord will reportedly stay at American Solutions

On Friday, there was the not-so-surprising news that Rob Johnson, who managed Texas Governor Rick Perry's 2010 Gubernatorial campaign, would become the campaign manager of Newt's Presidential run. Johnson first signed on with Newt -- in an advisory role -- back in March. (Another former Perry staffer -- called Perry's "top political consultant -- Dave Carney is helping Newt out in New Hampshire.)

Johnson's "special strength," says Gingrich spokesman Rick Tyler, "is how to harness the Internet for modern campaigns. He did that in Texas and he will have the same capability for Gingrich nationally."

A bit shockingly:

In a surprise move, Tyler said Gingrich’s closest political adviser, Joe Gaylord, will remain as CEO of American Solutions for Winning the Future, the 527 political committee that Gingrich set up about five years ago to promulgate conservative positions.

Gaylord, a native of Iowa, had been widely expected to be a senior adviser to a Gingrich campaign.

In more staff news:

Tyler also said that Sam Dawson, a protégé of Lee Atwater who has been advising Gingrich this year as he explored making a run for the White House, will be a senior political consultant to the campaign. Dawson, who worked for former Gov. Carroll Campbell of South Carolina and has been close to Gingrich since the mid 1990s, also did a stint as the executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Rick Perry's Campaign Manager and top Political Consultant on Newt's team

From the Statesman:

Rob Johnson, who managed Gov. Rick Perry’s 2010 re-election campaign, has signed on with Newt Gingrich as Gingrich explores whether to run for president.

Johnson, 36, will be a senior political adviser for Gingrich, who for months has been nearing a presidential bid.

...

He’s not the only member of Perry’s circle who is mixing in with Gingrich’s. Dave Carney, the New Hampshire-based operative who is Perry’s top political consultant, is helping the Gingrich team arrange events in the Granite State.

"The potential opportunity to run a top-tier presidential campaign is an acknowledgment of Rob’s extensive experience and leadership in putting together winning campaigns," Perry said in a statement.

Matt Lewis writes:

Perry ran a superb campaign in 2010, so this strikes me as a good "get" for Gingrich.

But this news also seems to make it clear (if it wasn’t already) that Perry is definitely not running for president.

It also makes me wonder if Perry might eventually endorse Gingrich for president.

Gingrich wrote the foreword for Perry's book, Fed Up.

(Updated 5/6: Johnson is now Newt's campaign manager.)