Earlier the same day, Gingrich had alerted his nearly one-and-a-half million Twitter followers to a BuzzFeed post entitled "The 25 Cutest Pictures of Newt Gingrich with Zoo Animals." Gingrich's tweet: "This is fun. Thx for sharing," followed by the BuzzFeed writer's original tweet of the link. Despite his refusal to drop out and make it official, the political world had not been taking Gingrich seriously as a candidate for some weeks, but with the tweet, Gingrich seemed to be acknowledging his own status as a figure of ridicule.

Prior to running for president, Newt Gingrich had built a very good life for himself. The former speaker of the House of Representatives resided in posh McLean, Va., with his third wife, who enjoyed expensive jewelry and singing in church choir.

He ran a profitable empire of think tanks, wrote and co-wrote books of fiction and nonfiction, appeared on television as a commentator, and traveled the country giving speeches, basking in his role as GOP elder statesman. Inevitably, as he finished one of his fiery orations on the endless circuit of rubber-chicken dinners, local activists would come away starry-eyed, wishing this dazzling man, with his charisma, insight and seemingly endless ideas, would find it in him to run for president.

Today, much of that empire is in a shambles.

The Fox News contributor gig is no longer, having been suspended when Gingrich became a candidate, and quietly canceled thereafter. Relations between Gingrich and the cable channel have notably soured. Recently, Gingrich told a Delaware Tea Party group that he felt the network had exhibited a bias against him, accusing it of "distortion"; the network fired back with a biting statement: "He's still bitter over the termination of his contributor contract." It seems safe to say that bridge, for Gingrich, has been burned.

The policy and consulting enterprise Gingrich helmed is similarly on the rocks. American Solutions for Winning the Future, his major nonprofit, shut down last August, and the Gingrich Group, his for-profit advocacy shop, filed for bankruptcy in Georgia earlier this month. Together, the two entities had grossed more than $100 million over the course of a decade, according to Bloomberg. Now, thanks to Gingrich's quest for the presidency, they are defunct.

Gingrich's campaign, nearly $4.5 million in debt, has stooped to renting out its donor and email list for money. On Tuesday, people who'd signed up on Gingrich's presidential website received, under the heading "A special offer for Newt's supporters," an advertisement from LifeLock, an identity-protection company. "Special Offer for Newt Gingrich Fans!" the email said. "30 Days Free + 10% Off LifeLock Membership."

Even Gingrich's last book was outsold by the patriotic children's book penned by his wife, Callista, which features an elephant named Ellis. The couple's credit line at Tiffany -- up to $1 million at one point -- is gone.