The American Spectator

p> GETTING THERE br> Newt Gingrich isn’t fully into the 2008 Republican presidential nomination race yet, but he’s getting there. Over the weekend, according to sources with knowledge of the meeting, Gingrich met with advisers at a small, swanky restaurant/retreat in Virginia horse country to discuss laying the logistical groundwork for his formal entry in the race. /p>

“Newt commissioned the memo some time ago, and [longtime Gingrich adviser] Joe Gaylord has been working on it,” says a Gingrich insider. “Newt is taking this possible run very seriously and in a way that you would expect: looking at the tactics, the history, the opportunities. He’s looking at all the angles.”

Gingrich had already commissioned a planning memo that is said to read out at more than 100 pages, covering everything from policy development to travel to the need for the former House Speaker to drop a few pounds for all the TV appearances.

Reviewing the memo was one of the agenda items for this gathering. Gingrich has been visible in conservative and Republican circles of late, pushing a book on his new Republican agenda, and over the past five or so years, he has served as a private sounding board for the Bush Administration, particularly on Washington politics and reform of the American health-care and retirement systems.

As other GOP presidential hopefuls have traveled the country and seen their visibility — and poll numbers — rise and fall as the next hopeful comes into view of potential voters, Gingrich to date has not overplayed his hand. He — along with former New York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani — remains one of the most popular Republican figures whose name has been mentioned for a presidential run, but who has not gotten fully into the race.

“We’re all expecting he’s going to accept the memo, go home and add to the piles of materials he’s working through to make the decision,” says the Gingrich associate. “We expect we’ll all be charged with various tasks related to it, and we’ll have a decision early in the fall.”

p> IT’S ALL ABOUT THEM br> Former President Bill Clinton