Newt Gingrich (Photo: Getty)

TAMPA, FL -- Newt Gingrich, who regularly sparred with what he described as the "elite media" during the Republican primaries, is now working with The Washington Post Company.

At this week's Republican National Convention in Tampa, Mr. Gingrich is debuting "Newt University," a series of academic-style classes he's conducting at a Hyatt hotel near the RNC festivities. Newt University is being "presented by the Republican National Committee," which has paid KAPx, a division of the educational company Kaplan to run the courses. As noted on the Newt University website, Kaplan is "the largest subsidiary of The Washington Post Company" and is wholly owned by the media company. 

Newt University features lectures on such topics as "'We Believe In America' - We Don’t Believe in Obamacare" and "'We Built it' - Small Businesses and Civil Society Build America." Along with Mr. Gingrich, the lectures feature several prestigious guest speakers including; Utah Governor Gary Herbert, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Utah Senator Mike Lee and Mr. Gingrich's wife, Callista.

Among other media outlets, Mr. Gingrich's lecture series has been written up by the Washington Post newspaper and Slate, which is managed by The Slate Group, an "online publishing unit from The Washington Post Co." The Washington Post story about Newt University included a disclosure that "Kaplan is part of The Washington Post Co.," the Slate story did not include any disclosure.

Update (10:26 p.m.): Dave Weigel, who wrote the Slate story, said he was unaware of the connection between The Washington Post Company and Newt University, because he arrived at Mr. Gingrich's event today after it began. 

"I arrived late and saw/heard no sponsorship disclosure," Mr. Weigel said. 

Newt University isn't Mr. Gingrich's first association with a media company. Prior to his presidential campaign, Mr. Gingrich had a contract with Fox News. However, his relationship with the channel subsequently soured. We reached out to Newt University and Mr. Gingrich to see if his work with The Washington Post Company means he has had a change of heart about the media. As of this writing, we have yet to receive a response.

Update (8/28/12 12:37 p.m.): A spokesman for Mr. Gingrich, R.C. Hammond responded to Politicker's question about whether Mr. Gingrich has had a change of heart about the media by simply saying, "The convention paid Kaplan for a service."

We pressed Mr. Hammond and asked if Mr. Gingrich is "a fan of the Post."

"He is a fan of learning," Mr. Hammond said.  

Newt Gingrich

The Romney campaign issued a statement from Newt Gingrich this afternoon accusing President Barack Obama of deciding "to cater to the radical left wing of his party and undo welfare reform." The former speaker of the House characterized the Obama administration's decision to issue waivers to states easing the requirements for people to qualify for assistance through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program as undoing the "central concept" of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act.

"As an architect of the historic and bipartisan 1996 welfare reform bill, I am disturbed and angered that the Obama administration is undoing the act’s central concept of a welfare-to-work requirement. The hugely successful reform saved billions for taxpayers. More importantly, it began to dismantle the culture of dependency that welfare had fostered: two out of three people on welfare went to work or went to school," Mr. Gingrich said.

Mr. Gingrich claimed changing of the TANF requirements is evidence the president is giving in to "radical" elements of the Democratic party.

"The President’s decision to cater to the radical left wing of his party and undo welfare reform is one more reason why it is critical to defeat him at the polls this November," said Mr. Gingrich.

Yesterday, the Romney campaign announced its intention to spend the week hitting President Obama for trying to "gut" welfare reform. The Obama campaign has fought back by pointing to the fact that Republican governors requested the TANF waivers and that Mitt Romney requested changes to welfare reform laws during his tenure as governor of Massachusetts. The Obama campaign has also defended the waivers by claiming they allow states to identify the best welfare-to-work programs and that the waivers don't eliminate the welfare-to-work requirement, because states that receive them are required to increase the number of welfare recipients who move on to employment by 20 percent.

Newt Gingrich holding a baby tiger in 1995. (Photo: Getty)

Former Speaker of the House, Republican presidential candidate and noted zoo enthusiast Newt Gingrich is traveling in Italy and he took some time today to visit the Bioparco in Rome. Mr. Gingrich tweeted a few observations about the zoo's large hairy armadillos.

Bioparco was built in 1911 and is billed as "one of Europe’s oldest zoological gardens." The Bioparco's collections include Pygmy Hippopotami, Asiatic Lions and Siberian Tigers. Based on his Tweets, Mr. Gingrich appears to have particularly enjoyed the exhibits with European Bison and the Large Hairy Armadillo:

The rome zoo's large hairy armadillos (their name, honest) are very active today -natives of argentina

—
Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) July 03, 2012

European bison was down to 54 animals in zoos none in wild after world war one. Conservation efforts have 1800 in wild and 1400 in zoos

—
Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) July 03, 2012

Rome has nice european bison exhibit and nice Italian biodiversity building

—
Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) July 03, 2012

Mr. Gingrich's wife, Callista, has also been tweeting updates from their European trip.

Last week, Mr. Gingrich was in Paris where he spoke to the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a group of Iranian exiles headed by Maryam Rajavi. In addition to her work with NCRI, Ms. Rajavi is also the head of Mujahadeen-e-Khalq or MEK, a leftist group dedicated to overthrowing the Iranian regime that is officially designated as a terrorist group by the United States.

According to Buzzfeed's Andrew Kaczynski, Newt Gingrich is very impressed with Al Sharpton's figure.

Newt Gingrich tells Al Shaprton he is awe struck about how much weight he has lost.

—
Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) June 12, 2012

TV appearances by Mr. Gingrich and Rick Santorum gave Politico's Jennifer Epstein a bad case of déja vu.

looks like three months ago: Gingrich on one channel, Santorum on another

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Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) June 12, 2012

Reuters reporter Sam Youngman took note of a connection between the location of a Mitt Romney fundraiser in Florida and an infamous sports scandal.

Romney's fundraiser is in the same hood where Tiger was trapped in his SUV after hitting hydrant. Saintly (ex)wife freed him with an iron

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Sam Youngman (@samyoungman) June 12, 2012

Senator John McCain hoped his Tweets about the Farm Bill would elicit a wide variety of emotions from readers.

Coming tomorrow: I'll tweet Top 10 pork projects in the #FarmBill - you won't know whether to laugh or cry!

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John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) June 12, 2012

Lastly, this one is from yesterday, but it is just too good not to include. California Congressman Darrell Issa is apparently a Sex Pistols fan.

@BillTrack50 I'm only pro anarchy of it's "Anarchy in the UK"

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Darrell Issa (@DarrellIssa) June 11, 2012

The Daily Caller's Michelle Fields loitered in a Manhattan Mickey D's.

Lady at NYC McDonalds just told me I have to go: "Customers can't be here for more than 30 min." Waah, where are reporters supposed to file?

—
Michelle Fields (@MichelleFields) June 01, 2012

Former HuffPo editor David Weiner was confused by Buzzfeed reporter Rosie Gray's dispatches from Bill Clinton's Wisconsin recall rally.

What year am I in? RT @RosieGray: Clinton done, crowd fired up, U2 playing

—
David Weiner (@daweiner) June 01, 2012

Donald Trump, who uses Twitlonger because he has "a very large Twitter," really, really wants you to know he wasn't bothered by the jokes at his expense at last year's White House Correspondents Dinner.

Almost all reporters falsely report that I had a "bad time" at last year's White House Correspondents' Dinner. (cont) tl.gd/hlfud5

—
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 01, 2012

Former senator, presidential candidate and Law & Order star Fred Thompson thinks the Democrats need to work on their messaging.

Senior Dem Party official: Obama may replace "Forward" slogan. How about their old one: "Lean forward and grab your ankles, America." #tcot

—
Fred Thompson (@fredthompson) June 01, 2012

Zoo enthusiast Newt Gingrich returned to his favorite place.

Another photo from zoo yesterday - Japanese giant salamander http://t.co/fqXafYYP

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Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) June 01, 2012

Ben Jacobs had high expectations for Donald Trump's new Super PAC.

The Trump Super PAC will be the classiest Super PAC in all of Atlantic City

—
Ben Jacobs (@benhjacobs) May 24, 2012

Congressional candidate Samuel "Joe The Plumber" Wurzelbacher was under seige.

The twitter trolls are out in force : ) #tcot #jtp

—
Joe the Plumber (@Joe4Congress12) May 23, 2012

@delrayser thought Newt Gingrich's Hardball appearance needed a disclaimer.

Newt Gingrich is not an accredited zoologist. He is simply an enthusiastic young man w/a 6th grade education & love for all God's creatures.

—
  (@delrayser) May 24, 2012

Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post had a wonky take on the American Idol finale.

RESOLVED: Phil Phillips is the most famous doubled named guy this side of Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

—
The Fix (@TheFix) May 24, 2012

Actor Don Cheadle didn't have the chance to avenge his recent basketball loss to President Obama when they saw each other in California last night.

(Disclosure: Donald Trump is the father in law of Jared Kushner, the owner of Observer Media Group)

Newt Gingrich

Over a week after the news broke he would be ending his presidential bid and months after he had any chance in hell of actually winning the Republican nomination, Newt Gingrich officially announced his departure from the presidential campaign this afternoon. Mr.Gingrich made his exit with a speech in which he signaled his support for his former rival, Mitt Romney.

"This is a choice between Mitt Romney and the most radical, leftist president in American history," he said.

Like most of his speeches, Mr. Gingrich's farewell was a lengthy, rambling monologue in which he discussed his favorite topic, American history, and the "big issues" that have defined his candidacy including space exploration and neurological research. Mr. Gingrich also took the opportunity to take a stroll down memory lane with reminiscences of his past political campaigns, his time in Congress and his victory in January's South Carolina primary. Mr. Gingrich, who said he has always strived to "move the national debate" said he and his wife Callista plan to stay engaged with political issues.

"We're now going to put down the roles of candidate and candidate-spouse and take back the role of active citizens," he said.

Mr. Gingrich's expression of support for Mr. Romney stopped short of a full-fledged endorsement. However, his campaign spokesman told CNN, "planning is under way for a joint Romney-Gingrich formal endorsement event to be held in a couple of weeks."

Michael Powell says that the bill isn't anything to cheer about, noting that Quinn "spent months trimming and cutting the bill down to the size of a hat box," so that in the  In the end the bill would affect 0.013 percent of the jobs in the city.

Nicole Gelinas concurs: "Why pass a “living wage” at all if it’s not big enough to matter much, good or bad? Politics. The anti-poverty “advocates” and union honchos whose support Quinn needs have seized upon the bill as a top issue."

The Times meanwhile calls on a higher minimum wage for all.

Many House races in New York and around the country are a rematch from two years ago. 

Could Vito Fossella run for Congress again? "Not never, just not right now," he told the Washington Post.

Ydanis Rodriguez appears to have offered chief aide David Segal--who was fired when it was revealed that he firebombed in Army recruiting station seven years ago--his job back.

Two of the top contenders to be City Council Speaker--Melissa Mark Viverito and Inez Dickens--showed up a rally on behalf of John Liu in Harlem last night.

At the rally, Liu gave the strongest indication yet he running for mayor, saying “I am ready, willing and able to go into battle for what I think is right for the city of New York."

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo moved  to assert his influence over New York State’s education policy by appointing Richard Parsons to lead a new commission charged with improving student performance.

Martha Stark still has a job at CUNY. 

The reconstruction of Croton Water Filtration Plant was supposed to bring jobs to Bronxites, but so far has failed to do so.

New York City Pension Funds are challenging Walmart's leadership in the wake of a bribery scandal. 

On the eve of May Day protests around the country, envelopes of white powder were sent to Mayor Bloomberg and six banks around the city.

A new report shows that charter schools have a hard time holding onto principals. 

The DOE laid out social media guidelines for teachers. 

Chuck Schumer vowed that the GSA has vowed to sign a lease at 1WTC by the summer. 

The new Brooklyn Nets logo is designed to "resemble the black-and-white tiles and typeface of old New York subway stations."

The Brownstone Belt is in revolt over the possibility that a Hooters may open nearby.

With a number of religious themes on Broadway this season, theaters are trying to attract churchgoers.

An Obama ad accuses Mitt Romney of outsourcing US jobs. 

Money is pouring in to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's recall campaign. 

A month after Romney's 2008 campaign ended, his son and a top fundraiser started a private equity fund using many of the same connections gleaned from the 2008 race.

Are Asian Americans a 2012 swing vote?

In order to get their endorsements, Rick Santorum wants to ensure the GOP's policy platform represents conservatives' interests, while Newt Gingrich wants help retiring his campaign debt and repairing his reputation.

Newt staring down a bronze statue of George Washington at the 2010 premiere of his documentary about Pope John Paul II "Nine Days That Shook The World." (Photo: Facebook)

According to CNN, Newt Gingrich plans to formally end his White House bid and endorse Mitt Romney at a campaign event in Washington D.C. next Tuesday. Prior to Mr. Romney's five state primary sweep last night, Mr. Gingrich indicated he would "reassess" his campaign if he was unable to win the primary in Delaware, where he focused much of his energy in the past few weeks. Mr. Gingrich ended up losing that contest with just about 27 percent of the vote compared to 56 percent for Mr. Romney.

Over the last few months, Mr. Gingrich's quest for the nomination increasingly became an impossible, sisyphean effort under the weight of Mr. Romney's string of primary wins. In a speech to supporters in North Carolina last night, Mr. Gingrich congratulated his rival on his victory and promised he would "think carefully" about his next move.

"I want you to know that over the next few days we're going to look realistically at where we're at, but I also want to do that as somebody who's a unifier and somebody who's realistic," he said. "We are going to think carefully about how we can be the most helpful to this country and how we can make sure, one, that Barack Obama is a one-term president, period, and two, we want to make sure that we send the best strongest possible signal to Tampa that we want a conservative platform, and we want the values that go back to Goldwater and to Reagan to be fully represented."

Mr. Gingrich, who said he was staying in the race "to articulate big themes and big issues" at last week's New York Republican Party dinner, still plans to continue with his scheduled campaign swing through North Carolina this week. During his last hurrah in the Tar Heel State, Mr. Gingrich will throw out the first pitch at a college baseball game and indulge in one of his favorite amusements--a trip to a zoo.

Newt Gingrich

Delaware may be Newt Gingrich's Waterloo. In an interview with NBC News, Mr. Gingrich revealed he will "reassess" his doomed presidential campaign depending on how he does in tonight's Delaware primary.

"I think we need to take a deep look at what we are doing," Mr. Gingrich said. "We will be in North Carolina tomorrow night and we will look and see what the results are."

Though Mitt Romney has emerged as the presumptive Republican nominee with a string of primary victories, Mr. Gingrich has focused much of his attention on the tiny state of Delaware for the past several weeks. There are 17 delegates at stake in Delaware, a miniscule fraction of the more than 500 delegate lead Mr. Romney has on Mr. Gingrich. Despite Mr. Gingrich's efforts in Delaware, Mr. Romney is expected to easily win the primary there.

Mr. Gingrich's admission he might be willing to "reassess" his campaign is a major change of heart for the former Speaker of the House. Last week, Mr. Gingrich told an audience at the New York State Republican Party dinner he was staying in the presidential race "to articulate big themes and big issues." Two weeks ago, Mr. Gingrich vowed to take his futile quest for his party's nomination all the way to the Republican convention, pointing to his forehead and telling Fox News' Sean Hannity, "I think I'm getting it tattooed up here, 'All the way to Tampa.'"