Every politician is forced to pretend to love regular-guy things, like food on a stick, while he's running for president, but for Newt Gingrich, it was clear this task was especially painful. Even after he was forced to slash expenses as his campaign struggled, Gingrich couldn't help but indulge in private jets. He grimaced looking over the menu of small-town diners, as seen at left. Mocked for buying his wife, Callista, expensive jewelry and clothes, he awkwardly posed in shopping malls in front of J.C. Penny. But that's all over now. Gingrich is a private citizen again, and that means he's free. Free to blow his money on fancy dinners.

Gingrich and Callista were spotted at Tachibana, a sushi restaurant in the fancy Washington suburb McLean, Virginia, Monday, The Washington Post's Reliable Source reports. The pair shared a sushi platter, the Post says, and Callista was all dressed up in "a sleek black pantsuit, black patent leather slingback pumps, gold necklace." Gingrich previewed his return to his old lifestyle May 2, when he announced he was suspending his campaign in a hotel ballroom in Arlington, Virginia. After the speech, Gingrich invited pals to a goodbye-presidency party at Cafe Milano in Georgetown, Politico's James Hohmann reported. "Unclear who paid…" Hohmann wrote, noting the fancy menu.

"Tiffany reports weak quarter," Yahoo's Daniel Gross tweeted Thursday. "In related news, Newt Gingrich's various enterprises going bust. Coincidence?" Perhaps next quarter will be better. Newt must behave as a commoner no more.

(Photo via Associated Press.)

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Elspeth Reeve