1.   Republicans, meanwhile, are mulling whether to abandon the notion of filing ethics charges against Rep.

2.   Three years later, four cabinet secretaries have faced Justice Department investigations on ethics charges.

3.   Among Democrats, White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta said he expects Gingrich to be re-elected, but also be weakened by the ethics charges.

4.   Among the attorneys supporting Richards was Michael Tigar, the Austin criminal law expert who successfully defended Republican U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas against ethics charges.

5.   At this stage in his career, it would be almost impossible to catch this candidate flat footed on an ethics charge.

6.   Battered by ethics charges, low popularity ratings and dissent from his own ranks, Gingrich has spent much of the year out of public view.

7.   A few moderate Republicans had aimed to unseat the controversial Georgian, claiming that unresolved ethics charges against him should be put to rest.

8.   A Naples circuit judge called Bailey a liar and recommended he be stripped of his license after a weeklong hearing of ethics charges against him in May.

9.   But on Monday he said he was satisfied that Gingrich had weathered the ethics charges and vowed to support his re-election.

10.   Those were among the ethics charges that helped force Wright from office.