If Gingrich wants to run for president, he'll have to sacrifice many of the perks he's enjoyed as a pundit. And one of his biggest  was a gig as a Fox News contributor: not only did Newt get to be well-paid for espousing his political opinions, he got a free platform to deliver his potential campaign message to millions of Americans. A seems a little unfair, right? (Media Matters is nodding vigorously.) But, after recent reports detailed Newt's desire to inch toward a presidential bid for real, it looks like that gravy train is finally coming to an end.

Fox News has announced that they've decided to sever ties with Gingrich and fellow Republican Rick Santorum, presumably because they've officially crossed the line from what we'd call "seriously pretending to be a GOP contender" into "they're serious about seriously considering running" territory. In a move smacking of common sense, Fox News executive of legal affairs Diane Brandi stated to the Los Angeles Times, "We can’t have Speaker Gingrich on our payroll while he is in the midst of an exploratory committee to see if he’s going to run for office."

And in one of the most clear-headed statements about another Fox News contributor and long-rumored presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, Brandi remarked "she hasn’t yet shown a serious intention to form an exploratory committee." Which presumably means she's still in the "seriously pretending to be running" category?
 

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Erik Hayden