MOBILE, Ala. (AP) – Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Thursday he hopes some candidates will “steal all my ideas” and use them in the 2008 presidential election so he can relax.

But if not and the country values those ideas, he said, “There are circumstances where I will run.”

At a news conference before a speech at the Baptist-affiliated University of Mobile, Gingrich said he hopes the primary process in Iowa and New Hampshire “will be bipartisan and will emphasize having a serious dialogue instead of a debate.”

Asked under what circumstances he would enter the Republican presidential race, Gingrich, 62, said he plans to continue traveling the United States talking about the issues.

“My hope is that five or six candidates are going to jump up, steal all of my ideas and I will be able to relax and go golf,” he said.

The former Georgia congressman said if nobody picks up on the ideas and the country thinks they are substantial, a campaign is possible. But he added that’s “so far down the road and so much less important than my two grandchildren.”

Among the conservative’s proposals: replacing presidential debates with a candidates’ dialogue.

“Two adults, ninety minutes, sitting up, chatting with each other, letting the country watch them have an adult conversation with the country,” he said.

On the nomination of Harriet Miers for the U.S. Supreme Court, Gingrich said President Bush has worked with Miers for 11 years, including her service as his White House legal counsel. At her Senate confirmation hearing, Gingrich expects Miers will be “very impressive.”

He said Bush could have chosen any one of 10 or 15 appellate judges and made a choice acceptable to conservatives, including Gingrich.

“It’s very clear to me from talking with people in the White House that the president personally believes that Harriet Miers is very smart, works very hard, and is very conservative,” Gingrich said.

He said he’s not prepared to say that Bush isn’t serious about changing the court and “didn’t deliberately pick someone that’s tough and smart enough to get us there.”

“He’s taken all the burden on himself. So my view is this had better work,” Gingrich said. “I’ve written a column favoring her.”

On Hurricane Katrina, Gingrich says the “institutions of government” failed the storm victims. He said Katrina is the “wake up call” to get America back on track.

“If you look at New Orleans after Katrina, for six days the city of New Orleans failed, the state of Louisiana failed, and the government of the United States failed. And that’s why you saw things no American ever wants to see,” he said.

On the Iraq war, Gingrich said a U.S. victory will come when there’s an Iraqi police, military and intelligence system that could hunt down “our enemies.” He said there are “no circumstances” where the United States can exit Iraq in defeat.

“We have to win,” he said.

But he said the war on Islamic terrorism could last up to 70 years.

AP-ES-10-13-05 1751EDT