Hours before delivering a major policy address tonight, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had harsh words for the GOP and offered praise for Democrat Sen. Hillary Clinton as he analyzed the 2008 political landscape. Gingrich is in Atlanta for Solutions Day, a two-day event that he hopes will focus the American public on common-sense solutions rather than partisan bickering.

In an interview with me and Ed Morrissey of Captain’s Quarters, Gingrich offered this analysis of the 2008 race:

The most effective candidate in the race is Hillary Clinton. She has done exactly what you asked. It’s just that her answers are wrong. Senator Clinton is a serious, competent and formidable person who works hard every day. She’s for too much government, she’s for too liberal a policy, she would appoint judges who are way too liberal. But she is a formidable person. No one on our side is going to beat her by the kind of cheap and nasty campaign that beat John Kerry.

Gingrich said he would wait until Oct. 21 to decide if he’ll enter the race. He said his decision will be based on whether the American people want someone who is “more decisive, more aggressive, more vivid and articulate” than Hillary.

He also used the occasion to blast the horse-race politics that have come to drive campaigns:

Let me be clear. I think Republican consultants are mostly very stupid. I think they have no education. I think they have no sense of history.

Captain Ed will have audio of the entire interview on his Blog Talk Radio program today at 3 p.m.

A short video clip of Gingrich is below. (There’s more on my YouTube page.)