On Fox News Sunday, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich essentially said that he plans to enter the field of candidates next year. “Calista and I will make a decision probably at the end of February, beginning of March,” Gingrich said. “I think we’re much more inclined to run than not run. And I think we — everything we’ve done over the last year, talking to friends, thinking things through, has made us more inclined to believe that it’s doable.”

Here’s his full interview:

Mike Huckabee also inserted himself into the conversation over the weekend. In an interview with Politico, the former Arkansas governor essentially chastised the media for not paying him enough attention, indicating that he is more likely than not going to make a run.

“I just don’t understand how it is that a person can read these polls day after day and the narrative is constantly everybody but me,” he told POLITICO. “Whether I do it or not, the fact is that if one looks at the overall body of information that’s available, nobody would be in a better position to take it all the way to November.”

Huckabee’s push to include himself in the list of potential candidates could have the biggest impact on the ongoing 2012 calculus. Unlike 2008 when he was a largely unknown figure, Huckabee enters the next election cycle among the leaders in name recognition. If he chooses to run, he would immediately become a front runner, particularly due to his strength in Iowa. He won the caucus state in 2008, and his former campaign manager Bob Vander Plaats recently created a new organization with the explicit mission to organize the state’s social conservative movement behind one candidate.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney went on NBC’s The Tonight Show last Wednesday where he did his best to dodge any outright questions on entering the 2012 presidential field. “If you ever see me sign up for a gig on Fox News, it’ll be a clear indication that I’ve decided to run for president,” he joked with host Jay Leno.

Watch part of the interview below:

Other potential candidates have been more coy about their intentions. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin made two stops in Iowa last week for her book tour, but ducked reporters’ questions regarding her presidential ambitions. Lower-profile candidates such as Sen. John Thune (S.D.) or Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels have not faced the same incessant media questioning that the Palins and Romneys have been subjected to.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty have been the clearest about their plans to mount presidential campaigns next year. Neither has minced words about the fact that they are in the phase of considering a presidential run. Pawlenty leads the field in 2010-visits to Iowa while Santorum has made frequent appearances in the Hawkeye State and New Hampshire, the second state on the nominating calendar.

I was shocked to learn of the comment made by President Obama about Special Olympics. This was a degrading remark about our world’s most precious and unique people, coming from the most powerful position in the world. These athletes overcome more challenges, discrimination and adversity than most of us ever will. By the way, these athletes can outperform many of us and we should be proud of them. I hope President Obama’s comments do not reflect how he truly feels about the special needs community.

Benjamin Sarlin adds the necessary context about Palin and special needs funding. I’d add that it’s surprising the statement took so long — it missed the news cycle and will be lost over the weekend — and that it doesn’t acknowledge Obama’s immediate apology, instead asking whether the comment reveals how the president “truly feels” about the mentally challenged.

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These guys will all soon be the personal property of Harry Shearer. (Flickr: Trainman74)

He doesn’t know this yet, but I’m putting in a bid to purchase Bruce McCall.

I like and admire Bruce, but that has nothing to do with my plan. I happen to know that he’s up to his ears with a mortgage on his condo. Since that mortgage has long since been securitized and sold to a Singapore bank that’s about to fail, I can swoop in and get the whole package on the cheap.

Hey, vultures gotta eat, too.

As fine a purchase as that will be, it’s just the opening move of my plan.

I’ll leverage my Bruce property to the hilt, and go on a comedy and humorist buying spree — Joy Behar, Steve Carell, Chris Buckley, Sandra Bernhard, Craig Ferguson. They’ll all fit nicely into my portfolio. Leveraging them will net me Dave, Jay and Conan. Maybe even Matt Groening.

This isn’t about the hang, interesting as that prospect might be. My purpose is to create a corporate humor leviathan. Maybe we’ll call it American International Comedy, or AIC.

Old-school thinkers might surmise that my ultimate goal is to create a kind of monopoly, and raise everybody’s price — what you might call the Mike Ovitz approach. But this is now, and what I’m after is simple: a comedy combine that’s too big to fail.

Illustration by: Matt Mahurin

That’s only the beginning. More leverage brings more talent, and more connections to media leviathans worldwide — how many countries does Ricky Gervais entertain? How many state-owned TV networks have millions tied up in “Simpsons” reruns?

There’s no point in being too big to fail unless you can tiptoe or tapdance right up to, or just over, the edge of the cliff.

We’ll invest everybody’s earnings in perfectly wonderful financial instruments that the humorists themselves will invent. Then, boom! Or, strictly speaking, whatever the opposite of boom is.

Sure, there will be those outliers who think the government has no business bailing out a collection of laughmasters. Do they understand how much property Will Ferrell owns in Mexico? If all those haciendas get dumped on the market at once, ay caramba!

Once the government gives us a multi-billion-dollar bridge loan — cynics will call it a “bridge loan to nowhere,” but let them laugh — the feds will own 80 percent of all of yoksters, and we can relax.

Just like, let’s say, FEMA.

Harry Shearer is the host of the weekly radio show “Le Show,” the co-writer of “This Is Spinal Tap” and a musician and actor. His new album is “Songs of the Bushmen.”