Gingrich advocacy group shut down

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- American Solutions for Winning the Future, a fundraising and advocacy group developed by Newt Gingrich, has shut down for lack of money, an official says.

Joe Gaylord, who led the organization after Gingrich left, said it was closed down last month. The Washington Post reported Friday an Aug. 1 filing with the Internal Revenue Service showed American Solutions raised more than $2.4 million in the first half of this year but its expenditures totaled almost $3 million.

"There's nothing to say," Gaylord said. "We had difficulty raising money after Newt left. ... We didn't want to run the organization into deep, deep, deep debt. So we closed it down."

Gingrich, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president, told the Post he hadn't heard about the organization's financial woes and subsequent demise.

"I haven't had anything to do with them since I left to run for president," Gingrich said.

The newspaper said American Solutions had raised more than $52 million in its first four years of existence, with almost two-thirds of that amount going toward more fundraising.