Newt Gingrich is making it official today: He's running for president.

Here are links to some deeper looks at Gingrich that have been published in recent months.

Esquire interviewed one of his ex-wives, and Gingrich, for a profile that ran in September. The piece called him "the indispensable Republican."

In August, Vanity Fair offered up a guide to Gingrich's wives.

Those, of course, draw a focus on one of the biggest questions Republican primary voters will have about Gingrich: His family values.

Today's Wall Street Journal outlined "Newt Inc." and the formidable fundraising machine he has built in recent years.

The paper calls the various organizations Gingrich leads his "secret weapon" in the presidential race.

Consider:

In the last election cycle, [Gingrich's] American Solutions raised $28.7 million, putting it third among all advocacy groups that are allowed to take unlimited donations. It was surpassed only by the Republican and Democratic governors' associations.

But the cash came at a cost. According to tax data filed with the Federal Election Commission and the Internal Revenue Service, American Solutions invested far more than any similar group to build its donor list. It spent more than $15.6 million in the last election—or 55% of the money it raised—on telemarketing and direct-mail appeals, according to federal campaign records.

By comparison, Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and presumptive frontrunner for the Republican nomination, spent $1.3 million on fundraising for his political action committee over the past two years, or 14% of his net of nearly $9 million from 34,219 donors. No other potential 2012 candidate spent more than $1 million on fundraising during the last election period.

R.C. Hammond, a spokesman for Mr. Gingrich, said nothing the group has done is out of the ordinary. "Finding new donors costs money," he said.

The investment has clearly paid off.

The group now claims an active donor file of more than 300,000 names, in addition to the 80,000-name list at Renewing American Leadership. All told, with American Solution's 1.3 million email contacts, Mr. Gingrich has a total of 1.7 million potential voters he can reach.

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich wasn't the only one to receive a standing ovation when he appeared at the Wake County Republican Party convention Thursday night.

Wake County school board chairman Ron Margiotta also felt the love when he was introduced to lead the 900-plus in attendance in the Pledge of Allegiance. The other four GOP school board members also received applause at the convention.

Also Thursday night, Susan Bryant was elected to a two-year term as party chairwoman. She's held the job since November, when she took over after Claude Pope announced his resignation.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called for the elimination of the Environmental Protection Agency in an interview with The Associated Press, stating the EPA is rarely innovative and focused only on issuing regulations and litigation. Instead, he would like to replace the agency with a new organization that would work more closely with businesses and be more aggressive in using science and technology.  Read his interview here.

Run a letter about upholding or curbing gun rights, and it will not go unanswered. We feel strongly about the Second Amendment here in these parts. The NRA is held in higher esteem than the president, Congress, Democrats and Republicans after all. So I was kind of surprised that we got so little response today on the Page 1B story about Charlotte's hosting the latest NRA convention (read it here).

The bloggers at The Charlotte Observer have posted a little song about the convention. I offer it here so you can sing along or sputter your outrage.