The AP reports that Newt Gingrich is setting "4-1 odds" against deciding to run for president. He also laid out a timeline for the decision:
After holding national Internet-based workshops on Sept. 27 and 29, he will decide whether to form an exploratory committee on Sept. 30. If he does form a committee, he will decide whether to run by Nov. 6, about one year from Election Day 2008.Gingrich has been running a non-campaign campaign of book tours, lectures, debates, and organization-building, and that looks set to continue. Meanwhile, he's playing coy with the Iowa straw poll:
He has said he will hold workshops in Iowa's 99 counties and will attend the GOP straw poll in Ames in August, though he won't actively campaign for support. He also plans to address a group of Iowa ministers at an Iowa Renewal Project event.It's a strategy that has served him well enough so far -- but with the decisions by Giuliani and McCain to skip the straw poll, will Newt see an opening to push a little harder in Ames? Or is Fred Thompson's imminent entry into the race making those odds against a Gingrich run longer?