Newt Gingrich to announce 2012 White House run

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) (C) speaks to reporters after a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, March 18, 2011.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Newt Gingrich, who led a conservative resurgence in the mid-1990s as speaker of the U.S. House, will announce plans on Wednesday to run for president in 2012 as the race to challenge President Barack Obama picks up steam.

"I have been humbled by all the encouragement you have given me to run," Gingrich said on Monday on his Facebook page. He told supporters to watch a Fox News interview on Wednesday night where "I will be on to talk about my run for president of the United States."

Gingrich will outline his candidacy on Twitter and Facebook and will speak on Friday at a convention of the Georgia Republican Party, spokesman Rick Tyler said on Monday.

"We're all in," Tyler said.

Gingrich, 67, is a conservative famed for budget battles with President Bill Clinton after he led the "Republican revolution" in 1994 midterm elections that brought his party to power in Congress.

"He continues to be the intellectual leader of the Republican Party, a guy with a lot of energy, a lot of experience and is positioned to really take it to Obama because Newt at the end of the day is a real believer," said Republican strategist Scott Reed.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll in March found he was viewed favorably by 35 percent of voters and unfavorably by 38 percent.

Gingrich has flirted with a presidential run for years.

He is known within Republican circles as a politician who brings a lot of ideas to the table but party officials believe he will need to show a great deal of discipline as a candidate and not be tempted to comment on all issues of the day.

Gingrich, who has appeared as a Fox News commentator and written books since resigning from the House of Representatives in 1999, is taking steps to ease concerns among the religious right about his personal life.

He is married to his third wife, Callista, with whom he had an affair in the mid-1990s while he was married to his second wife. He told a Christian television network this year that he had sought God's forgiveness over the affair.

SLOW START

The Republican race to choose an opponent for Obama has been slow to start, with would-be candidates saving money by delaying. Gingrich's announcement could enliven the contest.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is expected to announce his candidacy this summer and many Republicans are eager to hear whether Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels will run.

Daniels, who was a budget director for Republican President George W. Bush, is expected to appear with his wife when she addresses a Republican Party event on Thursday in Indiana.

Cheri Daniels has been cool to a presidential run by her husband but knowledgeable Republicans say she may have softened her stance.

Jon Huntsman, a Republican who until recently was Obama's U.S. ambassador to China, is also testing the waters.

Former governors Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Sarah Palin of Alaska, representatives Ron Paul of Texas and Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, former senator Rick Santorum and businessmen Herman Cain and Donald Trump have either formed exploratory committees or expressed interest in seeking the Republican nomination.

Following his Fox News interview and Georgia Republican Party appearance, Gingrich will continue his campaign roll-out with a Saturday speech at Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois, whose most famous alumnus is Republican icon Ronald Reagan.

Then he travels to Iowa, which holds the first election contest of the Republican schedule next January.

(Editing by Bill Trott and Laura MacInnis)