Gingrich Announces Official Run for President

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich announced Wednesday via Twitter that he would run for the Republican candidacy for president in 2012.

He also made an announcement of his candidacy with a YouTube video, similar to Hillary Clinton's announcement that she was running for president in 2008.

"I'm announcing my candidacy for president of the United States because I believe we can return America to hope and opportunity, to full employment, to real security, to an American energy program, to a balanced budget," Gingrich said in the video. "I worked with President Ronald Reagan in a very difficult period. We got jobs created again. Americans proud of America. And the Soviet Union disappeared."

Gingrich has started traveling to key primary states to capture voters in those influential states, and, according to CNN, he has assembled a campaign team with hopes of raising $100 million for his efforts.

It was discovered in March that Gingrich donated $200,000 to oust three of the nine Iowa supreme court justices who unanimously ruled in favor of marriage equality, $125,000 to the American Family Association's political action fund, and an additional $25,000 to the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition. Later that month, he told Bryan Fischer of the antigay American Family Association that he would emphasize "pro-classical Christianity" in his policy making. He added that President Barack Obama's decision to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act in federal courts was wrong, and that he has an "obligation to support and sustain the laws of the United States."

Gingrich is well known for his authorship of the 1994 Contract With America, a document that outlined the Republican agenda, bringing in the first GOP-majority House in four decades. His adversarial approach toward President Bill Clinton led to two government shut-downs in 1995 and 1996. He also faced 84 ethics complaints, mostly by Democrats, during his time as speaker, according to the Associated Press. After five years as speaker, he stepped down.

Watch a video Gingrich released below, announcing his campaign.