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Newt Gingrich will suspend his presidential campaign on Tuesday, according to multiple media outlets, and Rick Santorum will meet with presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney three days later, tying up loose ends as Republicans unite behind Romney for the general election campaign against President Obama. Romney's status as the inevitable nominee has not been in question for weeks, but his sweep of five Northeast primaries on Tuesday night prompted the Republican National Committee to announce on Wednesday that it has launched a “merger” between its operation and the Romney campaign.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele launched a fight to keep his job Monday, stunning many in the party who had expected him to step aside. His decision means Republicans will be debating the record of its first African American chairman next month just as the new GOP-controlled House is being sworn in. Steele and Republican congressional leaders have been at odds in the past and a bruising internecine fight could become an unwelcome distraction. Near the close of a sometimes-rambling 33-minute speech, delivered to the Republican National Committee via conference call Monday night, Steele asked members to give him a second term "because I really believe in my heart that our work is not done.

My colleague Alexandra LeTellier gave two thumbs down earlier today to a new, Republican National Committee-bankrolled study  on how to improve the party's appeal to, umm, everyone who isn't an older white guy. She's clearly in the RNC's target, being a) female, and b) not yet ossified. But she's not buying what the party leadership is selling. Here's the GOP's problem in a nutshell: It sees a messaging problem, but its critics see a positioning problem. When the economy is slow, people want their policymakers to do something to help the country.

Remember the passage in Mitt Romney's acceptance speech when he said this? "For the first time, the majority of Americans now doubt that our children will have a better future. " It turns out that's not true. VIDEO: Watch the RNC speeches Romney is right that most Americans aren't confident that the next generation will do better -- but there's nothing new about that. Pollsters have been finding similar results for almost 30 years. "From 1984 until now, a plurality on almost every survey -- and sometimes a majority -- has said the next generation would have it worse than this generation," said Samuel L. Popkin, a political scientist at UC San Diego.

Now I know how Rip Van Winkle felt. I went on vacation for two weeks -- and awoke to find that I'd slept through (well, OK, I missed) the entire Republican National Convention. And you know what?  I can't say I missed missing it. VIDEO: Watch the RNC speeches Really, this must be the secret to how the French stay content. Vacations just seem to make problems disappear. Overwrought about politics? Anxious about the economy? Troubled by the Middle East? Try several afternoons on a nice beach, munching on fresh lobster ("That one, but wait until I'm not looking to chuck it into the boiling water, please!"

ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. - Professor Newt is heading to Tampa to school the delegates at the Republican National Convention. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a onetime college professor, plans to lead daily two-hour seminars called “Newt U” every day of the convention on rotating campuses in the region, the RNC announced Sunday. It's a reprise of the role - an academic and historian - that Gingrich relished playing on the campaign trail during his unsuccessful GOP primary bid. Each two-hour seminar is linked to that day's convention theme and features speakers, including Wisc.

WASHINGTON - The top Democrat on a key House committee began an inquiry Monday into a GOP consulting firm under scrutiny for voter registration irregularities, seeking details about its relationship with the Republican National Committee. In a letter, Maryland Rep. Elijah E. Cummings asked Nathan Sproul, who runs Strategic Allied Consulting, to make himself available for an interview by Oct. 12, as well as to provide copies of his correspondence with the RNC and state political parties.

Three GOP senators on Sunday sharply criticized the chairman of the Republican National Committee, increasing pressure on him to step down for implying that the war in Afghanistan is a lost cause. The Republican senators, led by John McCain of Arizona, the party's 2008 presidential nominee, stopped short of calling for Michael Steele's resignation.

TAMPA, Fla. - The first day of Paul Festival, a three-day celebration of Ron Paul and the movement he led, kicked off Friday with a sparsely attended gathering in the cavernous hall at the Florida State Fairgrounds. Organizers had initially hoped 40,000 would attend the three-day event, but are now hoping for 5,000, attributing the smaller numbers to Paul throwing his own rally on Sunday and the possibility of inclement weather. On Friday afternoon, hundreds listened to bands and speakers, and meandered through an exhibition hall that featured not only vendors hawking Paul gear and gold, but also booths for the John Birch Society, Scientology and a three-day “Ron Paul Cruise 2013” to the Bahamas.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Some parts of political conventions are very similar, regardless of the party. They have big crowds, Americans from every state, and people dressed in patriotic bling. But anyone wandering around Charlotte this week would probably find it easy to figure out that this is the liberals' - er, progressives' - week. There's free yoga on an outdoor greenway every morning at 7 a.m., a yarn and knitting gathering for DNC members and not one, but two special photography and video exhibits dedicated to various members of the Kennedy clan (one is for RFK, the other for Ethel, the matriarch)