Gingrich would teach online course as president

{mosads}”As president, they would like you to only bother them when it really matters,” Gingrich said.

Gingrich’s academic background has made headlines of late, as the former Speaker insisted that his company was paid millions in consulting fees for his historical perspective, rather than lobbying efforts.

He added that social media and online tools would help him better connect with the American people.

“The idea would be, why wouldn’t you want a president in the age of social media to methodically, in an organized way, share with you what they’re going to accomplish so that those people who really won’t understand it can understand it?” Gingrich said.

Gingrich has played up his Twitter following before, saying in August that he had the largest Twitter following of any of the Republican candidates.

“I have six times as many Twitter followers as all the other candidates combined, but it didn’t count because if it counted I’d still be a candidate; since I can’t be a candidate that can’t count,” Gingrich had said mocking the media for downplaying his odds of winning the GOP race.

But a report by Gawker found that Gingrich paid a firm to procure Twitter followers, leading to an embarrassing moment early in the campaign.

Gingrich today has 1.35 million Twitter followers, far outpacing competitors like Mitt Romney and Herman Cain, both of whom have fewer than 200,000.