ATLANTA — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will have officially entered the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination by next Friday, his spokesman told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Wednesday.
“By the time Newt speaks to the Georgia convention, he’ll be a candidate,” spokesman Rick Tyler told the paper, referring to the state Republicans’ annual meeting to be held in Macon, Ga., on Friday, May 13.
Gingrich, 67, will not be participating Thursday in the first 2012 Republican presidential debate, sponsored by the South Carolina Republican Party and hosted by FOX News Channel.
When asked why, his spokesman told the Journal-Constitution, “We decided to stick to our time line.”
Entry requirements for the debate insisted on a declaration of candidacy that the former Speaker was not prepared to make, he added.
Gingrich, who represented Georgia’s 6th congressional district for two decades, had hinted at an event in Philadelphia last Thursday that he would make a decision about entering the 2012 Republican race this week.
“I would just say to folks who are really curious: Watch Facebook and Twitter in the next week,” Gingrich said. “I think you’ll have all the information you need.”
The potential candidate had been expected to declare in March that he would form a presidential exploratory committee but the announcement never materialized.
“It led to unfortunate confusion,” he later admitted. He did, however, create a website — newtexplore2012.com — which encouraged supporters to donate money toward his potential candidacy.
Gingrich currently garners eight percent support among Republicans nationwide, according to the RealClearPolitcs average of recent national polls.