ARLINGTON, Virginia (PNN) - May 2, 2012 - In the end, Newt Gingrich turned himself into the one thing he had been trying to avoid during the entire Republican presidential primary season: a punch line.

In a 23-minute speech in the ballroom of a Hilton hotel on Wednesday, Gingrich ended his presidential campaign nearly a year after it started.

Technically, Gingrich suspended his candidacy, allowing him to turn his attention to retiring a campaign debt of more than $3 million. His second and last primary victory was almost two months ago, in his former home state of Georgia, and he has finished far back in most of the GOP voter tests.

"Today I'm suspending the campaign but suspending the campaign does not mean suspending citizenship," said Gingrich. He and his wife, Callista, "owe it to America" to remain active politically, he said.

Of the election at hand, Gingrich said he and Callista pledge to campaign for "a Republican president, a Republican house, a Republican Senate, Republican governors, Republican state legislators."

Gingrich did praise Romney regarding job creation; he told the crowd that the corporatist globalist candidate "knows about 60,000 times more than does (illegitimate) President Obama" when it comes to creating private-sector jobs.

Rep. Ron Paul - known widely as The Patriot Congressman - the only remaining challenger to Romney, has 80 delegates and is continuing to compete in primaries and caucuses, which end in late June.