In Ohio, Newt Gingrich Handicaps 2012 GOP Presidential Field

Sandwiched between visits to Iowa and New Hampshire, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich made time for Ohio Friday, where he planned to screen a film at a Right to Life event and also take part in a discussion on ethanol.

The Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire Primary are scheduled as the first contests in the 2012 presidential campaign season. But voter-rich Ohio, currently set for a March primary, always looms large, especially for GOP hopefuls.

Gingrich, who is expected to announce in early March of this year whether he will run for president, said Friday that three of his potential rivals already have an edge. He told the Columbus Dispatch that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is "the frontrunner in fundraising, [Sarah] Palin is the frontrunner in celebrity status and [Mike] Huckabee is the frontrunner in polling data." All three of them, he said, "should feel pretty good about where they're positioned right now."

But Gingrich has a friend in Ohio -- a "very close personal friend," he says -- in new Gov. John Kasich, who as a congressman headed the House Budget Committee when Gingrich served as speaker in the 1990s.

President Obama's victory in Ohio in 2008 was a coup for Democrats who lost the state to George W. Bush in 2004 and 2000. Earlier this week, former Republican National Chairman Ed Gillespie talked about the significance of Ohio in the 2012 political picture. "It's hard to see Obama getting reelected or a Republican winning election without winning Ohio," he said. "I would start there if I were advising our nominee."

At St. Charles High School Friday, the Columbus newspaper said Gingrich was to show a documentary he co-produced, "Nine Days that Shaped the World," about Pope John Paul II's role in the liberation of Poland and fall of communism.