Newt: Ask me in October
Posted: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 2:14 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Republicans
From NBC's Joel Seidman
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said today that he will decide by the end of October whether he will enter the presidential race.
On NBC's "Today” this morning, Gingrich said, "There will be a yes or no by the end of October" and he reiterated that at the National Press Club in DC.
VIDEO: Newt Gingrich, on NBC's Today Show, talks about the 2008 presidential race.
Prior to his decision deadline, Gingrich said he was planning to float some ideas on the Internet. "We are planning to have American solutions workshops on September 27 to 29th,” he said, “nationwide on the Internet, open to everybody for free."
Gingrich said the response he receives from the Web forum will be a determining factor in his decision to wade into presidential politics. "After that I'll look at the race,” Gingrich said.
At the National Press Club, Gingrich said he would consider a presidential run only if there "was a large enough vacuum...large enough demand" from the public. He also said that Fred Thompson would make a "formidable" candidate and so is Hillary Clinton. For the GOP, he thinks Giuliani, Romney, Huckabee and Thompson are the strongest.
Yesterday in Georgia, Gingrich predicted that the Democrats' chances of taking over the White House next year are a good bet.
He told business leaders at a gathering of the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce, "The odds are fairly significant that the left will win next year."
And he had a further prediction on who will make up the Democratic presidential ticket. "My personal bet is that it'll be a Clinton-Obama ticket. I think they have a very high likelihood of winning," Gingrich said.
