Gingrich set to announce bid for 2012 president

Reuters/Washington

Newt Gingrich

Republican Newt Gingrich, who as speaker of the US House led a conservative resurgence in the mid-1990s, will announce plans tomorrow to run for president in 2012, as the race to challenge President Barack Obama picks up steam.Gingrich will outline his candidacy via Twitter and Facebook and will speak on Friday at a convention of the Georgia Republican Party, spokesman Rick Tyler said yesterday.“We’re all in,” Tyler said.Gingrich, 67, is a conservative famed for budget battles with president Bill Clinton after he led the “Republican revolution” in 1994 midterm elections that brought his party to power in Congress.“He continues to be the intellectual leader of the Republican Party, a guy with a lot of energy, a lot of experience and is positioned to really take it to Obama because Newt at the end of the day is a real believer,” said Republican strategist Scott Reed.A Reuters/Ipsos poll in March said Gingrich was viewed favourably by 35% of voters and unfavourably by 38%.Gingrich has flirted with a presidential run for years. He is known within Republican circles as a politician who brings a lot of ideas to the table but who party officials believe will need to show a great deal of discipline as a candidate and not be tempted to comment on all issues of the day.He, who has appeared as a Fox News commentator and written books since resigning from the House in 1999, is taking steps to ease concerns among the religious right about his personal life. Gingrich is married to his third wife, Callista, with whom he had an affair in the mid-1990s while he was married to his second wife.He told a Christian television network this year that he had sought God’s forgiveness over the affair.The Republican race to choose an opponent for Obama has been slow to start, as would-be candidates save money by delaying, but Gingrich’s announcement could enliven the contest.Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is expected to announce a presidential run this summer and many Republicans are eager to hear whether Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels will run.Daniels, who was a budget director for Republican president George W Bush, is expected to appear with his wife when she speaks to a Republican Party event on Thursday in Indiana. Cheri Daniels has been cool to a presidential run by her husband but knowledgeable Republicans say she may have softened her stance.Jon Huntsman, a Republican who until recently was Obama’s US ambassador to China, also is testing the waters.As part of his campaign roll-out, Gingrich will give an interview to Fox News tomorrow night and speak on Saturday at Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois, whose most famous alumnus is Republican icon Ronald Reagan.Then he travels to Iowa, which holds the first election contest of the Republican schedule next January.Former governors Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Sarah Palin of Alaska, representatives Ron Paul of Texas and Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, former senator Rick Santorum and businessmen Herman Cain and Donald Trump have either formed exploratory committees or expressed interest in seeking the Republican nomination.