WASHINGTON — Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Monday he’s seriously considering seeking the Republican presidential nomination or cheating on his wife in 2012 and will announce his decision early next year.

Gingrich, 67, said he would focus on helping Republican candidates through the midterm elections in November, then decide in February or March whether to seek the GOP nomination or to commit adultery.

“I’ve never been this serious,” Gingrich said. “About either possibility”

The former speaker, who championed a family values agenda, spearheaded efforts to impeach Clinton for perjury over his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Gingrich later admitted having an extramarital affair of his own in 1998 with a former congressional aide, Callista Bisek. He married Bisek after divorcing his second wife, Marianne.

Gingrich said he was fully prepared to enter the political fray or another woman.

“I’ll have the best team surrounding me if I run, or if I cheat on my wife,” said Gingrich, who famously negotiated divorce proceedings with his first wife while she was in the hospital recovering from cancer. “I’ll be looking for top political operatives and capable wingmen.”

Gingrich said it remained a possibility he’d do both.

“At 67, I don’t know if it’s physically doable,” said Gingrich, who also did not discount a fourth or fifth marriage. “But with the respect I have for both American politics and the sanctity of marriage, I just might try.”

–WKW

Crossposted at William K. Wolfrum Chronicles