Newt Gingrich to quit, expected to announce Mitt Romney will acquire campaign in debt swap

So the 2012 presidential campaign is on the verge of losing it's only housing historian. That's right, Newton Leroy Gingrich is about to quit the campaign, and announce his intention of supporting Willard Mitt Romney. The press conference is scheduled to begin at 3 PM ET. Join us for the discussionhilarity in the comments. We'll track the event as it unfolds, and you watch here:

12:04 PM PT: Allegedly, Newt was scheduled to speak at 3:00PM, but he hasn't started yet. Maybe he's still working out the deal points with Romney before they sign the term sheet.

12:05 PM PT: SIREN: Okay, I'm getting a report from somewhere (maybe deep inside my head) that the hangup here is that Newt wants a commitment from Romney that he can be declared President of the Moon.

12:06 PM PT: Yeah, I know it's only been six minutes or so since Newt was supposed to begin, but I'm getting impatient. I mean, he's had marriages that didn't even last this long.

12:15 PM PT: Looks like some folks are taking the stage at the Hilton in Arlington, Virginia, where Newt will announce his campaign's acquisition.

12:13 PM PT: And Newt and Calista just took the stage.

12:16 PM PT: Newt looks like a cute and cuddly porcupine. And he talks with the "royal we" about his campaign. Normally I'd mock that, but Newt is crying right now, and it's rude to mock a man when he's crying.

12:15 PM PT: Well, he wasn't totally crying. But he was choking up. Frankly.

12:18 PM PT: Newt's thanking a ton of folks, because he won Georgia 156 counties to 3. Uh, yeah, because that's the way they count things.

12:20 PM PT: Amazing that Newt has to drop out, given the support from Todd Palin and Michael Reagan. #notreally
— @KailiJoy via web

12:22 PM PT: Jeesh, Newt has an excuse for everything.

12:24 PM PT: Newt says he worked as a volunteer in the Bush administration. Why anyone would want to associate themselves with that mess...

12:25 PM PT: Gingrich says he will not suspend his citizenship. Because then Romney would make him self-deport.
— @elisefoley via TweetDeck 12:27 PM PT: WARNING: Newt will not stop talking until a moon colony is established
— @thinkprogress via TweetDeck 12:26 PM PT: Gingrich says energy royalties can pay off the national debt. I'm not even going to bother to fact check that
— @ZekeJMiller via Tweetbot for iOS

12:28 PM PT: Newt is demonstrating why he lost. Total diarrhea of the mouth.

12:30 PM PT: yes, Mr. Speaker, the White House had no idea of the al Qaeda threat in Yemen until now. Well done
— @samyoungman via web

12:32 PM PT: Newt wants a romantic American future of meth abuse on the moon, or maybe his diarrhea of ideas just ran together in my head.

12:33 PM PT: This is the kind of speech where if you pay too much attention to it, you actually lose intelligence. So be careful out there folks.

12:34 PM PT: Now we're at the part of the speech where Mitt Romney is getting his money. Newt says Obama is the most radical leftist in American history, so of course Mitt Romney is conservative by comparison.

12:36 PM PT: "I'm not totally certain that I'll get to the  moon colony." But my grandkids will. Okay, fine, Newt, whatever.

12:36 PM PT: MSNBC has nothing better to air. RT @thinkprogress: CNN says uncle. Cuts away from Newt.
— @markos via TweetDeck

12:37 PM PT: Wait, Newt just said Americans have always "reinvented themselves." Aren't conservatives supposed to be against reinventing themselves.

12:38 PM PT: And finally at long last it's over. The Romney borg has assimilated the Newt.

12:40 PM PT: Newt may have self destructed during the campaign, but he did so with the help of about $100 million in negative attack ads from Mitt Romney.

12:52 PM PT: Newt laid out an ambitious post-campaign agenda. His actual campaign involved a lot of trips to the zoo
— @samyoungman via web