Arguably the most articulate politician in America today, Newt Gingrich, will be joining the race to become the Republican nominee for President. His announcement is conditional on raising $30 million to finance the campaign, but the current selection of candidates is so unsatisfactory to the Conservative base that he should have no problem raising the money.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will begin next week to seek financial commitments from donors for a presidential-nomination bid, the Georgia Republican told The Washington Times yesterday.

If he can get pledges for $30 million over the next three weeks, he will join the Republican presidential-nomination race — a prospect he had been downplaying until yesterday.

But the prospect of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York winning the Democratic nomination and the presidency is moving more voters to seek him out, he told The Times.

“As people have grown more worried about the Clinton machine and the prospect of a second Clinton presidency, more and more people have been approaching me about running,” Mr. Gingrich said.

“Next Monday, Randy Evans, my friend and adviser since 1976, will hold a press briefing and explain how he intends to review whether it is realistic for me to consider running,” Mr. Gingrich said.

“I am happy to compete in the world of ideas, but to compete in modern campaigns you have to have at least a threshold of donations,” he said. “We believe that threshold is about $30 million.”

“If Randy reports back in the next three weeks that there are that many people who want a strong advocate to debate Senator Clinton and present new solutions and new approaches, then Callista and I would have a real duty as citizens,” he said, referring to his wife.

But finances matter, he said, noting that the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance regulations have “rigged campaigns against middle-class candidates and in favor of the rich” and that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney “could write a check for $100 million if he wants to and has already written several large checks” for his GOP presidential-nomination campaign.

He noted that he drew more than 800 Republicans to a Michigan Republican event Saturday on Mackinac Island, which he called “very encouraging.”

In an interview yesterday on “Fox News Sunday,” Mr. Gingrich said winning $30 million in commitments would be like having his “fellow citizens … walk in and say, ‘You know, we think you’re the person who ought to debate Senator Clinton, and we think you’re the person who can actually explain where we ought to go.’ ”

“How could you turn to them and say, ‘Well, I’m too busy?’ Couldn’t do it.”

The Georgia Republican is holding off until next week because he is “focusing totally” on his “American Solutions workshops” on Thursday and Saturday, “reaching out across the whole country on a totally bipartisan basis.”

Newt has spent the past two years developing a comprehensive program based on a time tested Conservative ideology. The foundation of Newt’s program is his June 2006 book Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America.

According to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, America currently faces five threats that could undermine, if not eliminate, the United States if immediate steps are not taken to correct them. The threats as he sees them are Islamic terrorists and rogue dictatorships armed with nuclear or biological weapons; the removal of God from American public life; a loss of patriotism and sense of America’s history; a decline in economic supremacy because of poor science and math education; and the increasing budgetary burden of Social Security and Medicare. To tackle these problems, Gingrich offers his “21st Century Contract with America,” which he outlines in great detail in this bold and thought-provoking book. His updated contract, which comes a decade after the original Republican Contract with America that marked the high point of Gingrich’s national power, calls for a dramatically simplified tax code that favors savings and investment; government investment in science and technology, particularly regarding space, energy, and the environment; transforming Social Security into personal savings accounts; overhauling the civil justice system to reduce the burden of lawsuits; and updating the federal government, including the privatization of some functions, so that it moves at the speed and effectiveness of the information age. And that’s just the beginning. He also calls for tripling the size of America’s intelligence community, reforming its election system, developing a more intelligent health care system that creates jobs and increases quality of life, and balancing the federal budget.

Gingrich believes that this ambitious agenda can be accomplished, but only if it receives grassroots support. The entrenched political system, with its lobbyists, bloated bureaucracies, and the complicity of the media, is too self-serving to fix itself, he stresses. Concise and clearly presented, Winning the Future is long on specifics and short on rhetoric, and it succeeds as a springboard for political discourse. Gingrich’s aim is clearly to inspire citizens to take responsibility for the county’s direction by demanding more of their government and their leaders.

Since the book was published Newt has organized online and live seminars building a sophisticated grassroots movement named American Solutions. Newt essentially adapted Ronald Reagan’s radio strategy to the Internet age. Like Reagan’s radio talks, the online seminars helped Newt develop and internalize positions on every important issue facing America today. His ideological principles and fully developed positions come through in every speech and interview he gives.

Finally, here is an old Ali G interview, just for laughs. Newt comes out looking good in a bad situation.

Update: Newt is out. He will continue working with American Solutions to develop a winning strategy for America.