Newt Gingrich sends mixed signals about 2012 and gets more publicity in the process

Is Newt Gingrich planning to announce a presidential exploratory committee tomorrow? It depends on which one of his aides you talk to.

For weeks, the former House Speaker has been telling reporters he will announce his decision on whether he'll seek the GOP nomination by early March. Within the past few days, the buzz has hit a fever pitch. Unnamed sources close to the potential candidate leaked out word to numerous news organizations, including ABC News, CNN, Fox News and the New York Times, that Gingrich would announce the formation of a presidential exploratory committee at a press conference in Atlanta on Thursday.

Late Tuesday, Joe Gaylord, a longtime Gingrich adviser, confirmed the reports to the Des Moines Register. "It is exactly that, an exploratory committee," Gaylord said. "But you can't say that this is tantamount to an announcement of candidacy. It is the announcement of an exploratory committee that says, 'Is it really feasible for me to do this, and let me check this out in the next six or seven weeks, because I want to find out if it's real before I do it.'"

But in an statement issued late Tuesday, Gingrich spokesman Rick Tyler issued a "clarification" to the Register story. "To be clear, while Speaker Gingrich is in Georgia on Thursday, he will NOT announce the formation of an exploratory committee," Tyler said.

What is going on? For one, Gingrich's aides seem to be caught up on semantics. While word is that Gingrich plans to say something about his 2012 intentions, there are hints that it will be far more loosely-worded than formally launching an exploratory committee, which would immediately require him to start operating under campaign finance laws governing presidential candidates. The distinction would severely restrict Gingrich from funding his political travels and activities through his network of political action committees and non-profits, including American Solutions, which bankrolls almost everything Gingrich does day-to-day.

But there is also another force at play here: The fight for headlines among the as-yet-undeclared 2012 contenders.

As The Ticket has previously noted, Gingrich has long been a master of the political bait and switch. He's repeatedly stirred up presidential buzz in the past to gin up publicity for himself and for his books, only to later back out of a campaign. There's always a chance that his latest White House flirtation is a head fake. But there are more than a few signs it's not, including his attempts to woo endorsements from Georgia politicians. There's also been a lot of activity on his Wikipedia page in recent weeks, including dozens of additions about his policy positions that appear to been added by Gingrich's own political operation.

Plus, there is the media aspect of Gingrich's dance. Presidential hopefuls often use an exploratory committee—which technically is a committee in place to help a potential candidate "decide" on a run—to generate a first round of headlines. That's usually followed a few weeks later by an actual campaign declaration—even if it was crystal clear from the beginning that a candidate was dead set on running. In 2008, John McCain had two announcement events—the first to announce his exploratory committee and the second to actually say he was running for president, even though he had been plotting his second presidential run for years.

Now Gingrich seems on the brink of simply adding an additional step. In other words, Thursday's announcement is likely to be that Gingrich is entering a decision process to decide on a committee that will help him decide about a presidential run that he's likely already decided about.

Long story short, whatever Gingrich says tomorrow is bound to make headlines--which is no doubt what he and his campaign handlers want.

(Photo of Gingrich: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)