Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich sounded Thursday more like a man inching toward the 2008 presidential race than a novelist plugging his latest book.

Gingrich said that he had not decided whether to join the already-crowded Republican field but that none of the candidates was saying what he wanted to hear.

"I think in both parties there is nobody who is making a serious, coherent statement for powerful change across the system," he said in an interview Thursday.

Gingrich said he will not make a decision on a presidential run until after he holds national Internet workshops on the country's future Sept. 27 and 29. The sessions will focus on how to transform government. After that, he will weigh a bid.

"We will look at a very simple question: Is there a need for a citizen-candidate with bold solutions who is willing to outline them in a very clear, serious way, or has that been filled?"

Gingrich spoke to about 270 people at a $50-per-plate luncheon Thursday sponsored by the John Locke Foundation at Sister's Garden and Catering Co. in North Raleigh. On Wednesday evening, Gingrich had autographed copies of his new novel, "Pearl Harbor: a Novel of December 8th," at Quail Ridge Books in West Raleigh.

He received a warm welcome at the luncheon, and several people said they hoped the former Georgia congressman would run.

"I thought he was wonderful," said Sue Thompson of Raleigh. "I agree with everything he said."

Gingrich criticized the votes cast Wednesday by senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The Democratic presidential hopefuls voted for a bill to block money for U.S. combat operations in Iraq but later issued statements suggesting they were uncertain about such a funds cutoff.

"You are looking at such pathetic absence of leadership," Gingrich said, adding that such votes were sending the wrong signals to America's enemies and allies.

He also called for a more aggressive foreign policy to combat "evil" around the world. Even allies, such as Saudi Arabia, need to be pressured not to fund radical Islamists, he said.

"We are prepared to say to the Saudis, 'We will not tolerate your funding of extremists around the world, and you will have to stop it or there will have to be a new regime in Saudi Arabia.'"

Gingrich said the presidential nominating system makes little sense; he ridiculed this week's GOP forum in South Carolina.

"Any time you see 10 or 12 people lined up like game show contestants, you know there is something wrong about how we are running for president," he said.

But he did call for nine 90-minute debates in the fall of 2008 between the two major-party nominees.

Gingrich said Democratic gains in the 2006 elections were largely the result of the Republican Party straying from its core principles. He said the election of conservative Nicholas Sarkozy as president of France could be a harbinger of the U.S. presidential race.