It took awhile, but Newt Gingrich is officially a candidate for the presidency in 2012. The former House speaker made the announcement via Twitter and Facebook Wednesday.

Gingrich will also sit down for an exclusive with Fox News' Sean Hannity Wednesday night to talk more about his decision. He came excruciatingly close, at least for an eager corps of political reporters, to making his announcement in March before pulling back. Instead he created a website called newtexplores2012.com, without actually creating a presidential exploratory committee.

Gingrich brings considerable name recognition to the Republican field, a quality candidates like former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum have been working furiously to attain...