Newt Gingrich will bid farewell officially tomorrow at 3:00 pm ET in Arlington, VA, his campaign announced, per NBC's Alex Moe.

"Expect Newt to speak to the important role citizens can play in stopping a second Obama term and helping Mitt Romney and the Republican Party build a governing coalition in Washington and state capitals across the country," Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said in a statement.

But it's not clear just how much he will say about Romney or if he will officially endorse him. In his good-bye video posted this morning, he made no mention of the presumptive Republican nominee, but he did say, as Moe points out, that this was still the most important election and voters needed to do everything to beat Barack Obama:

A song for Gingrich:

Rick Santorum met with several conservative leaders at home in Virginia, sources close to the Santorum campaign confirms to NBC News.

One of the major goals -- how to get Newt Gingrich out of the race and get his delegates to line up behind Santorum instead.

The meeting, the source said, was “called by conservative leaders to see how to get everyone to coalesce around Rick. Gingrich is a big part of that … that’s a huge part of it.”

Santorum spokeswoman Alic Stewart first confirmed the news on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports and said the goal of the meeting, called by the conservatives leaders, was stopping Mitt Romney.

"What I can say is we were approached by conservative leaders – a group of conservative leaders - who say now is the time for conservatives to rally together, get behind the right person that is going to be able to stop Mitt Romney," Stewart said. "That’s what the conservatives need to do."

The conservative leaders are trying to “find a way to stop Mitt Romney,” the source said. Santorum and Gingrich have “met a couple times,” but there’s no indication Gingrich would get out at this point or endorse.

The Gingrich campaign confirmed to NBC's Alex Moe that Santorum and Gingrich had met over the last couple of weeks, but, stressed that there is no chance Gingrich will exit the race and encourage his delegates to vote for Santorum.

Santorum "should have thought about that during the primaries," Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond told Moe, "and Newt is not dropping out and handing him our delegates."

He added, "Newt has not agreed to any alliances, and he is going to continue to move forward with his candidacy, and it is Sen. Santorum's decision alone if he wants to continue his candidacy."

There was no discussion -- or encouragement -- at the meeting today of Santorum to drop out, the source said. And talk of Santorum rethinking before Pennsylvania is silly, the source said.

“We’re going to Pennsylvania,” the source insisted. “He’s home for Easter.”

Politico first reported of a meeting with conservatives today.

In another black eye for Newt Gingrich, the flagship of what's known in Washington as "Newt Inc." has filed for bankruptcy.

In a Chapter 7 filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Georgia, The Gingrich Group LLC, doing business as the Center for Health Transformation, filed for bankruptcy Wednesday. (Chapter 7 is "the chapter of the Bankruptcy Code providing for 'liquidation,' that is, the sale of a debtor's nonexempt property and the distribution of the proceeds to creditors," as defined by the federal courts.)

The vast majority of Gingrich's net worth is tied up in the Gingrich Group. Gingrich is worth overall between $7.1 million and $31 million, according to his financial disclosure. He lists a promissory note from Gingrich Group as being worth between $5 million and $25 million.

Rogelio Solis / AP

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich speaks at the Gulf Coast Energy Summit in Biloxi, Miss.

Gingrich was chairman of the group until May of last year, when he announced he was running for president. Since the candidate turned focus toward his presidential run, the Gingrich Group has struggled to raise money, leading to its eventual collapse.

The bankruptcy comes at a time when Gingrich's campaign is struggling to regain any momentum. He has won only two states during his run for president -- South Carolina and Georgia, his home state -- and he lags far behind front-runner Mitt Romney in the delegate count, in third place with just 137 out of the 1,144 needed to become the nominee.

Though he continues to pledge that he's "going to Tampa," the site of the Republican National Convention this summer, Gingrich is sounding increasingly like a candidate fighting for relevance rather than the presidency.

(Here are the bankruptcy filings - Part 1, Part 2.)

The news of the bankruptcy was first reported by the Atlanta Business Chronicle and confirmed by NBC News with the court in Atlanta and a federal court database search.

Gingrich pulled in $2.5 million -- the bulk of his income -- from January 2010 to August 2011 from sister organizations Gingrich Productions and Gingrich Communications.

On the campaign trail, Gingrich has touted ideas coming from his health think tank. And it has been a source of controversy, as questions were raised -- and other campaigns questioned - whether Gingrich acted as a lobbyist on behalf of the group in Georgia.

The Washington Post wrote: “[H]is time there exemplifies the former Georgia congressman’s post-legislative career as a well-paid consultant and policy guru, a role that earned him and his companies tens of millions of dollars over the past decade.”

NBC's Kathy Johnson and Marcie Rickun contributed to this report.

GULFPORT, Miss. – Despite calls to withdraw from the presidential race, Newt Gingrich says no matter the outcome of the primaries next week, his campaign will go on.

"We'll clearly do well enough to move on, and I think there's a fair chance we'll win” in Mississippi and Alabama, Gingrich told The Associated Press in an interview Friday. “But I just want to set this to rest once and for all, we're going to Tampa."

The former House speaker appears to be lowering expectations in the two Southern states after his press secretary told reporters that the elections on Tuesday were crucial.

Campaign spokesman R.C. Hammond had told reporters on Wednesday that Gingrich needed to win both Mississippi and Alabama to remain a credible candidate. “From Spartanburg to Texas, those all need to go for Gingrich,” Hammond said.

Gingrich barely mentioned his two leading Republican competitors – Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum – at all on the stump Friday despite running neck-and-neck with them, according to new polls.

The Speaker is continuing to campaign like it’s business as usual, focusing his criticism on President Barack Obama’s energy policies.

Friday afternoon, the Gingrich campaign stopped at an oil drilling training facility in Laurel, Miss., to jab Obama’s recent speeches on energy, while touting his own $2.50 a gallon gas price plan.

“I just wanted to point out, Mr. President, that this is how they get natural gas. This is drilling. They don't get natural gas from algae,” Gingrich said as he stood in front of an oil rig.

Speaking at Gulfport High School – his last event in Mississippi Friday – Gingrich also called for Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to resign.

“I have been told that the secretary of defense has suggested that international agreements override the Congress,” Gingrich said, referring to comments that Panetta made Thursday about Syria as he testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee. “If he believes that, he should resign tonight … Leon Panetta needs to learn we do not have a United Nations secretary of defense, we have a United States secretary of defense.”

 Gingrich campaigns in Alabama Saturday.

NBC News has confirmed from a source close to the campaign that Newt Gingrich will start receiving Secret Service protection tomorrow.

Gingrich has events tomorrow starting in Montgomery, Ala.

Newt Gingrich has won Georgia, NBC News projects. Gingrich, the former speaker of the House who represented Georgia in Congress, said Georgia was a must win for him to remain credible as a candidate.

Vermont and Virginia are "too early to call" at this point, but Mitt Romney leads in both.

To play along at home and when to expect calls and characterizations from the NBC News Elections desk, here are the final poll closing times in each state:

7:00 pm ET: Georgia, Virginia, Vermont
7:30 pm ET: North Dakota, Ohio
8:00 pm ET: Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee
9:00 pm ET: Wyoming
10:00 pm ET: Idaho
Midnight ET: Alaska

Rick Santorum leads in polls, but he's spent much of the last two days defending provocative comments. ... A Romney Arizona co-chairman -- and hard-line immigration sheriff -- quits after a sex scandal erupts ... Romney asks Trump to give him air cover ... And half of all GOP primary ads have been negative.

1. Santorum leads nationally, in states…
Rick Santorum is maintaining the lead in national polls. His margin in the ever-fluctuating Gallup Daily Tracking poll expanded to 10 (36%-26% over Mitt Romney) today.

Another poll conducted by Gallup for USA Today shows Santorum up six, 50%-44%. (By the way, two-thirds of Republicans in that poll say they oppose a so-called “brokered” convention.)

National polls in primaries mean almost nothing. But as Super Tuesday March 6th approaches with 11 states across the country voting, national polls will mean a little bit more.

In Oklahoma, the Sooner Poll shows Santorum up 16 points, 39%-23%, with Newt Gingrich -- not Romney -- in second. Romney is third with 16.  (In Texas, there’s a robo poll -- a methodology NBC doesn’t report on -- that shows Santorum up 30. Should there be more evidence that shows similar results in live caller polls, we’ll report it.)

2. …But he’s also defending his own words
We’re not sure if the Philadelphia Daily News is one of Santorum’s morning reads, but if it is, he woke up to this headline from a Daily News columnist: “Santorum? Really? He's atop the GOP heap. Are they nuts?”

Depending on your perspective, Santorum either had a tough weekend or is standing up for very conservative values.

Yesterday on the Sunday shows and again today, Santorum was left defending remarks accusing President Obama’s of believing a “phony theology” that is not based on “the Bible;” pre-natal testing leading to abortions; the greatest generation during World War Two and how they stepped up – albeit late because they thought Hitler might not be that bad and then pivoted and said people “today” need to step up. That left some to wonder if he were likening Hitler to President Obama (More on the full remarks here); And there were his remarks on public schools, in which Santorum, who homeschools his children, said, “Where did they come up with public education was the role of the government? … The idea that state governments or the federal government should run schools is anachronistic.”

On almost all of those except pre-natal testing, which he defended, he tried to walk back or try to blame the media for overhyping them.

On “theology,” he said he wasn’t questioning Obama’s faith, that if he says he’s Christian, he believes him. And he changed his language today from theology to “ideology.” (Though a surrogate today also explained that there’s a certain “secularist theology” or “theological secularism” that Obama and liberals ascribe to.

On his World War Two comments, he said, “No, of course not,” he wasn’t comparing President Obama to Hitler. And: "It’s a World War Two metaphor. It's one I've used 100 times."

On education, on CBS’s Face the Nation yesterday, Santorum put it this way: “To the extent possible, with respect to mandates and designing curriculum and the like, I’d get the state government out. I think that the parent should be in charge, working with the local school district to try to design an educational environment for each child that optimizes their potential. … It’s another thing to dictate and micromanage and create a one-size-fits-all education system in states and certainly in the federal government, which is what President Obama’s trying to do.”

Not helping his cause today, spokeswoman Alice Stewart slipped and called Obama’s policies “radical Islamic policies,” instead of what she meant and said on the show as well – “radical environmentalist policies.” It’s a comment the left has had a field day with.

For those who have seen Santorum in person, he tends to go without notes, can speak for a long time, and meander into territory that, if there were a script, would be off of it. Now, these comments could actually help Santorum with very conservative voters. But they could hurt him not just with independents in a general election, but also with Republicans for whom electability matters most.

3. Romney Ariz. co-chair quits campaign
A co-chairman of Romney’s Arizona campaign Paul Babeu, who was seen walking along the border in that famous McCain “complete the dang fence” ad and is running for Congress, quit the Romney campaign after a report in the Phoenix Times alleged that he threatened to deport an ex-boyfriend if he didn’t keep quiet about their relationship.

He denies that accusation, but did come out at a press conference acknowledging he is gay. (MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts interviewed a reporter from the Arizona Republic who has been covering the story.)

4. Romney camp asks Trump to do radio
NBC’s Garrett Haake reported that, at the request of the Romney campaign, Donald Trump is now doing radio interviews for Romney in Ohio and Michigan. In one interview today in Michigan, Trump left open a third-party bid if Romney doesn’t win the nomination.

“There's a good possibility would do something,” he said, “because I love the country.”

He said Santorum “has no chance,” and that people in Pennsylvania turned him away. Locally, where they knew him best, was even worse.”

He said he went with Romney because of electability. Santorum, he said, “can’t win in a general. I see that and I see some of his views which are so out there, he cannot win the general.

He also acknowledged though one of Romney’s weaknesses – connecting with average voters. “He’s a much different guy on a personal basis than on TV,” Trump said.

And he also revealed that he knows Gingrich, because he is apparently a member at his D.C.-area country club.

5. Study: 50% of GOP ads negative
If you thought the ad wars this year were even more negative than ever before, you are right.

A new study by ad tracker CMAG/KANTAR media shows that just 6% of campaign ads in 2008 were negative in the GOP primary. This year, that number has jumped to 50 percent.

And you have Super PACs to thank for that. They have run more ads than the candidates themselves. And the Super PACs have spent about three-quarters of their cash on negative ads.

And, get this, 100% of Restore Our Future’s and American Crossroads’ ads have been negative.

LADY LAKE, Florida– As the race in Florida draws to a close, Newt Gingrich is trying to draw a much sharper contrast between himself and his “liberal” GOP rival Mitt Romney. 

“I am, in fact, the legitimate heir of the Reagan movement, not some liberal from Massachusetts,” Gingrich told the several thousand-person crowd at The Villages, a retirement community outside of Orlando. 

In the past, the former House speaker always referred to Romney as a “Massachusetts moderate,” but early Sunday Gingrich began labeling the former Massachusetts governor as a “liberal” instead. 

“This party is not going to nominate somebody who is a pro-abortion, pro gun control, pro tax increase liberal,” Gingrich told reporters about Romney outside Idlewild Baptist Church after attending services there this morning. 

Gingrich has seen his poll numbers slip in the Sunshine State, where at one point he was beating Romney by a sizable margin. In the new NBC News/Marist poll released Sunday morning, Romney pulled ahead of Gingrich by 15 points – 42 percent to 27 percent. 

The former speaker, though, said he was not discouraged by the polls and reiterated to reporters that he would take his campaign to Tampa in August. 

“We will go all the way to the convention,” Gingrich said , adding that the convention might be a broken one. 

“We have no evidence yet that Romney anywhere is coming close to getting a majority and I think when you take all the non-Romney votes, it's very likely that at the convention there will be a non-Romney majority and maybe a very substantial one,” he said. 

The conservative vote in Florida seems to be split between Gingrich and Rick Santorum, who is polling at 16 percent in the new poll. Adding together the two men’s numbers would in turn pull one candidate ahead of Romney, which Gingrich hopes will eventually happen. 

“Rick's going to get a decent vote … on Tuesday. I have no doubt the two of us are going to collectively outscore Romney,” Gingrich said. “And at that point it might be a pretty good conversation” to have with Santorum about trying to consolidate all the conservatives behind one candidate, he added.