Newt Gingrich has let the cat out of the bag; he intends to run for president in 2012:

In the last 24 hours, former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich has touched base with several prominent Republicans in his former home state, telling them that he intends to make a run for president in 2012 using Georgia as his base - and that he already has his eye on office space in Buckhead for a campaign headquarters.

Gingrich met on Thursday with Nathan Deal, whom Gingrich endorsed during a critical phase of last year's Republican primary for governor.

House Speaker David Ralston introduced Gingrich Thursday night at a downtown Atlanta affair hosted by the Paulding County Chamber of Commerce.

The visits and conversations - some face-to-face, others on the phone - appear to be an attempt by Gingrich to revive his old campaign network and lock down as much support as possible in a state won by Republican Mike Huckabee in the 2008 presidential primary.

Gingrich is a realist but does he have a blind spot when it comes to his ambitions to be president? There is no path - none, zero, zilch - that Gingrich has to the nomination, much less the presidency. He's got more personal baggage than any other GOP candidate, a history with the left that would draw as much venom as Sarah Palin would draw if she was running, motivating liberals to vote against him, and he has a huge problem with the base given his curious choices the last few years in palling around with Nancy Pelosi and other liberals.

That's just for starters. He has taken to lecturing conservatives lately which doesn't sit well with most, plus his early antipathy toward the tea party movement means he will have close to zero support there.

Perhaps Gingrich realizes that at 67 years of age, this is his last hurrah on the national stage and even though he realizes he hasn't much of a shot, he may want to take part in the conversation for a few months. He will draw crowds and will be good copy for the press, but as far as genuine support for his candidacy, it is doubtful he will cause much of a stir in Iowa or New Hampshire.