Gingrich: 'I Offer Solutions For US Future'

US presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has told Sky News he is the man who offers American voters a genuine alternative to Barack Obama.

Mr Gingrich's campaign for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination has suffered a rocky start with a series of controversies.

But the former Speaker of the House of Representatives said he would recover and present a different approach from that of Mr Obama.

He said: "I offer very large solutions, a very clear definition of the choices we face for America's future between American exceptionalism and the model that Mr Obama represents."

Mr Gingrich, 67, has been campaigning in Iowa, the state which traditionally is the first in the nation to pick its candidate for presidential election.

Since launching his campaign for the White House, Mr Gingrich has angered fellow conservatives by criticising a Republican plan to overhaul the massive Medicare health insurance programme.

He also apparently embraced a key element of President Barack Obama 's 2010 healthcare law, which most Republican candidates have vowed to repeal.

The former congressman's private life, two divorces and an affair with his now third wife, is also a cause for concern among the religious right.

He refused to discuss this with Sky News, but earlier in the week said: "I think people have to look at me, ask tough questions, then render judgment.

"I have made mistakes in my life."

A number of possible candidates for the Republican nomination, including former Alaska governor Sarah Palin , are still weighing up whether to join the race.

Those in it already include former governors Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty and former senator Rick Santorum.

Pizza entrepreneur Herman Cain has won rave notices in Iowa so far.

Shane Vander Hart, who writes the influential Caffeinated Thoughts blog, said: "What a lot of people are looking for is who is going to be the anti-Obama, who is going to go toe-to-toe with President Obama.

"Looking at the current field, they're not that excited right now."

In Iowa, Mr Gingrich brushed off his difficult start to the campaign and said he would overcome it with a "cheerful persistence".

He was also questioned on why Republicans should nominate a career politician like him.

He hit back: "Do I know a fair amount about Washington? You betcha. You think you're going to send an amateur to the White House? You just did that."