It has long been rumored, but now it is official: Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich explores the possibilities of a presidential campaign.

Wait, what? He is exploring? Isn’t that what he is doing for several months now?

Apparently not, because setting up an exploratory committee is an official step before he finally throws his hat in the ring. This allows him to evaluate popular support and also raise funds with fewer restrictions than an actual candidate.
This seems to be a great way to get his hands on some early money, considering that he will not have to report his donors.
While this gives Gingrich an edge over rivals, such as Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, neither of whom has come to a decision yet.

While it might look, as if he wants to know if the people want him to run, it is much more likely, that he just uses this to stall his announcement, yet still stay in the spotlight.
It is much more important, what the polls say, than how the people respond to his website and how many Facebook likes he gets.
Opinion polls just give so much more accurate information on a prospective candidate’s popularity in relation to his opponents. This suggests, that the personal messages for Newt Gingrich won’t change his decision.

So the bottom line is, that he just does it to raise funds and stay in the spotlight, which he definitely succeeded in, just check out the stock-photo-incident over at ThinkProgress.org.