The Gingrich Tease

Is Newt running?

Or is he just flirting?

It's no secret that many Republicans are dissatisfied with their party's presidential choices. That is fueling all the Fred Thompson chatter and otherwise contributing to a sense that the field is inadequate, that Rudy, Romney and McCain are failing to satisfy some deep longing for a Reagan-style conservative who hasn't been married three times, changed his position on abortion or been saddled with an unpopular war.

So the former speaker of the House has got to be thinking, why not me?

Why else would he have gone on James Dobson's radio show and confessed to having an affair with a House staffer while pushing for Bill Clinton's impeachment, if not for the chance to run against the former president's wife?

If Gingrich does run, his colorful style will draw plenty of media attention, and his never-ending stream of ideas will shake up the campaign dialogue.

Still, put me down as skeptical. Gingrich carries plenty of baggage, including his ethics scrapes while in Congress. Remember that he was essentially forced to quit as speaker. If he were truly running, why wouldn't he have gotten in by now? Maybe he's just trying to sell books.

He's certainly leaving the door open, as was evident from this ABC interview yesterday:

"Newt Gingrich for president? It could happen.

"In an interview with Diane Sawyer on 'Good Morning America,' the former Republican speaker of the House said there was a 'great possibility' that he would run for president.

"He will make that decision sometime in the fall. Sawyer noted that previously Gingrich had only said he was 'thinking about' a run for president.

" 'You said you'll make a decision at the end of the September, [is it] more likely, less likely this morning?' Sawyer asked Gingrich. 'I think right now, it is a great possibility,' Gingrich said . . .