Gingrich Floats Possibility of 2012 Presidential Run

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Thursday he'd seriously consider running for president in 2012.

With the mantle of the Republican Party still unclaimed, Gingrich told reporters in Ashland, Va., before a speech to Randolph-Macon College that he and his family would examine the political environment in early 2011, and "look seriously at whether or not we think it's necessary to do it."

"And if we think it's necessary we'll probably do it. And if it isn't necessary we probably won't do it," he said, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Gingrich is one of several potential candidates talked about as the GOP struggles to grow its numbers following huge defeats in the 2006 and 2008 elections.

Gingrich placed fifth, with 10 percent, in a straw poll of possible 2012 candidates over the weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

Click here to read the full story in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.