ATLANTA  Newt Gingrich on Thursday became the first major Republican to begin raising money for the 2012 presidential race, but he stopped short of declaring his candidacy until he finishes delivering paid speeches this month and distances himself from a web of business ventures that would interfere with a campaign.

In an afternoon visit to the State Capitol here, Mr. Gingrich smiled broadly as he entered the governor’s formal briefing room, with his wife, Callista, at his side. He said they had decided, after months of deliberation, to move forward and see if he could find enough support among Republican primary voters to compete seriously for the party’s nomination.

“We believe that America’s best years are actually ahead of us,” said Mr. Gingrich, 67, who won his first bid for elective office 33 years ago as a Georgia congressman. “We believe that it is possible through the right policies, with the right values, to create dramatically more jobs with dramatically higher incomes.”

Mr. Gingrich, a former House speaker, is seldom at a loss for words. But he limited his appearance here to nine minutes, taking only one question about a potential presidential bid, before walking away from a room filled with television cameras. He smiled again, saying that reporters surely had “more than enough to write about.”