Newt Gingrich gives up US presidential race

The political comeback of Newt Gingrich ended in failure yesterday (Thursday) when he formally announced he was ending his bid for the US presidency.

The end came several weeks after the former House Speaker, best known for pursuing Bill Clinton over his his sexual indiscretions, had enjoyed any realistic prospect of winning the Republican nomination.

His rival Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, is now certain to be officially anointed the Republican challenger to President Barack Obama, probably by the end of this month.

Thanking his supporters for their work in a campaign that finished more than $4 million (pounds 2.5 million) in debt, Gingrich pledged to fight for the conservative values and ideals which, on the campaign trail, he had often accused Romney of failing to represent.

"The issues are the same", Gingrich said in a video posted on his website with a plea for more donations, "We're still faced with a tremendous crisis of our country's future. The re-election of Barack Obama will be a genuine disaster."

During a chaotic campaign Gingrich, not a man known for his false modesty, was unapologetic about his "grandiose" vision for America which included a permanently manned moon-base, a project he compared to Abraham Lincoln's trans-American railway and the Wright Brother's vision of powered flight.

He is expected to support Romney during this autumn's campaign, despite bitterness over the barrage of personal attacks that the Romney team flung at him during January's Florida primary.