Errant Gingrich Email: 'Obama Is Going to Win'

By SARAH PARNASS | ABC News

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  ABC News - Errant Gingrich Email: 'Obama Is Going to Win' (ABC News)

An email message mistakenly sent to Newt Gingrich's list serve this morning told subscribers that President Obama would no doubt win in 2012 and that they should be more worried about Obama's winning in 2016.

That's right, despite the 22nd Amendment, which limits any one person to two presidential terms, the email that went out to Gingrich's supporters suggests President Obama would be running again in 2016, and possibly serve through 2020.

The email, titled "What's really at stake this Tuesday ..." came from Gingrich Marketplace and went out to people who'd given their contact information to the Gingrich campaign when the former speaker of the House was still in the presidential race. Bygone candidates, such as Gingrich and Herman Cain, regularly rent out their email address lists to advertisers.

"The truth is, the next election has already been decided. Obama is going to win. It's nearly impossible to beat an incumbent president," advertiser Porter Stansberry wrote in the email to Gingrich supporters. "What's actually at stake right now is whether or not he will have a third-term."

Conservative news group Human Events manages the Gingrich Marketplace emails, but Gingrich has a say over which advertisers can have their messages go out to the list. And according to Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond, Stansberry & Associates should have been on the blacklist.

"We do not rent to the entity in question," Hammond said, speaking by phone Thursday. "In fact, we go to lengths to vet where we rent."

Human Events Vice President Joe Guerriero said the email was "a mistake."

"It was actually scheduled to run on another of our lists," Guerriero said. His team has been investigating how the Stansberry message went out to the Gingrich group.

Stansberry & Associates is run by Porter Stansberry, who in 2003 was the subject ofan SEC lawsuit in which the court found he participated in an online newsletter scheme that defrauded investors out of $1 million. Stansberry was ordered to pay $120,000 in damages.

Here's the catch to the email. To learn how Obama would circumvent the 22nd Amendment, Gingrich subscribers were asked to click on a link to Stanberry's site and watch a video presentation. We won't bore you with those details. We're skeptical, to say the least, of the argument.

Gingrich endorsed Republican rival Mitt Romney when Gingrich left the race last May. At the top and bottom of his emails, there is a disclaimer for readers, in part saying, "the following message reflects the opinions and representations of our advertiser alone."