Although Newt Gingrich intended to give a lecture about his career as an author of historical novels Tuesday, audience members quickly asked the Republican about his political stances, including his support of the conservative effort to oust the three state Supreme Court justices.

“I think judges are vastly too powerful today,” Gingrich said. He further explained, “We have federal judges today who are routinely behaving as if they are commander in chief … They are making it much harder to defend America.”

The audience applauded.

Then a young man asked Gingrich to comment on the notion 9/11 was an inside job.

“Yeah, I don’t believe it,” Gingrich said to immediate applause from a supportive audience in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union.

He also was asked about whether Gingrich supported a theocracy, leading the former Speaker of the House to point at the Declaration of Independence as evidence the founders held that powers came from the people, who were endowed by a creator. He wrote a book about that subject in 2006, titled “Rediscovering God in America: Reflections on the Role of Faith in Our Nation’s History and Future.”

Gingrich was speaking in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union to discuss his career writing American historical non-fiction novels, in part promoting his latest release, “Valley Forge: George Washington and the Crucible of Victory.” His last book, published in May 2010, was the politically charged “To Save America: Stopping Obama’s Secular-Socialist Machine.”

He mentioned he’d like to someday write a book about George Washington’s life as a young man growing up in the colonies.

Earlier in the day, Gingrich made an appearance at Border’s in West Des Moines to sign copies of his new book and briefly took questions.

This was Gingrich’s sixth visit to Iowa in the past year, and much speculation has been made about Gringrich’s intentions to run for the Republican nomination for president in 2012.

It was reported Tuesday he is making personal business arrangements to allow him to run for president in 2012.

He said he and his wife would make an announcement in February or March 2011 regarding his final decision to run in the next presidential election or not.

“We’ll not only go to the state of Nevada but the town of Nevada,” Gingrich said, referring to campaigning everywhere he can go.

Gingrich is well known for his political career, including becoming Speaker of the House in 1994, leading the Republicans after taking control of Congress for the first time in four decades.

After 84 ethics violations were levied against him, 83 of which were dropped, and amid Gingrich’s own marital affair with a House of Representatives staffer while simultaneously battling against President Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinski scandal, Gingrich resigned from Congress quickly after the 1998 elections in which Republicans lost seats.

Gingrich left two of his wives to then marry the person he was having an affair with. Today, he is still married to that staffer, Callista Bisek.

Gingrich signed books, then went to broadcast a live appearance on Sean Hannity’s FOX News cable show.

He currently polls somewhere in the middle among potential 2012 GOP candidates, although none have officially declared their candidacy.