Newt Gingrich
(CNN) - Two days after hinting he would make a run for the White House, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich decided Saturday he would not run for president, his spokesman told CNN.
Rick Tyler said Gingrich realized he couldn't run a political action committee - his American Solutions group - and form an exploratory committee to run for president at the same time.
"He will continue to bring the American people solutions to the challenges America faces through American Solutions, not as a candidate for president," Tyler said in a phone interview.
Thursday, Gingrich told supporters in Marietta, Ga., that if they pledge at least $30 million to his campaign over a three-week period starting Monday and ending Oct. 21, he will compete for the nomination.
Tyler said the assessment of whether or not Gingrich supporters could raise the money never began.
Gingrich chose Thursday, the 13th anniversary of the signing of his "Contract With America," to launch his "Solutions Day" campaign, which he said is a search for bi-partisan answers to the country's major challenges.
Bush was critical of Congress for not passing spending bills before the end of the fiscal year.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Bush lambasted Congress Saturday for not passing spending bills before the fiscal year ended, and signed emergency legislation to keep the government running for the next seven weeks.
"Congress failed in its most basic responsibility: to pass the spending bills that fund the day-to-day operations of the government," Bush said in his weekly radio address.
"I do thank the Congress for passing this temporary measure, and for passing it without any new spending, new policies or new projects," the president added.
Earlier this week, House Appropriations Chairman Dave Obey, D-Wis., responded to similar criticism from the president, saying he had already talked to the White House about a "clean" continuing resolution and accused the president of manufacturing "a disagreement when there is none."
"This is the time when we ought to be sitting down to work out reasonable compromises with each other instead of issuing phony challenges or posing for political holy pictures," Obey said in a statement.
The president warned yet again that he would veto congressional plans to expand state-administered children's health programs, calling the increase in funding and coverage of State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, "irresponsible."
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson will report raising more than $7 million in the third quarter, a source inside the campaign tells CNN Senior Political Analyst Gloria Borger.
Thompson is seeking the Republican presidential nomination. There are still three days for candidates to raise money in this fundraising period.
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