The Hill News

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's (R-Ga.) campaign faced a destabilizing shakeup in his campaign after a mass resignation by senior aides.

Gingrich's campaign manager, top spokesman and several other top aides in key primary states resigned as a group on Thursday, the Associated Press reported, raising serious questions about how viable his campaign would be moving forward.

The AP reported that campaign manager Rob Johnson and spokesman Rick Tyler were among the departed, and other top aides informed Gingrich of their resignations today in Washington.

Gingrich's campaign had struggled out of the gate. He appeared to have reversed positions on whether he fa! vored military intervention by the U.S. after President Obama launched strikes there. And after a great deal of anticipation that he would launch a formal committee, Gingrich appeared in Georgia and announced that he had moved into an "exploratory phase" of his campaign, but didn't enter the race.

Murmurs of the longtime conservative icon's "frenetic" style of leadership emerged in the meanwhile, as some Republicans on Capitol Hill grumbled that Gingrich's leadership style could doom his White House ambitions.

The former Speaker did eventually launch his campaign in May, but stumbled again. During an appearance on "Meet the Press," Gingrich was unclear as to what extent he supported a mandate as part of health reform, and called House Republicans' 2012 budget and its Medicare reform proposal an example of "right-wing social engineering."

Gingrich cleared up the healthcare misstep, but the Medicare gaffe ended up doing more damage to his cam! paign. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the author of the budget, poun! ced, as did House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.). Gingrich eventually apologized to Ryan, and pivoted to vocally support the Ryan plan.

A number of Gingrich advisers had also previously worked to help Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), who's also stoked speculation that he might make a late entry into the field of GOP presidential candidates.