It could be that GOP Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich is just trying to siphon off some of Rep. Ron Paul’s supporters as Gingrich narrows Mitt Romney’s lead in South Carolina, but, whatever the motivation, his recent talk about the U.S. returning to a gold standard has made this a more interesting race in recent days as reported at CNN/Money.

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is calling for the United States to think about returning to the gold standard.

Speaking at a foreign policy forum in South Carolina on Tuesday, Gingrich advocated a “commission on gold to look at the whole concept of how do we get back to hard money.”

Gingrich, a former Speaker of the House, has spoken in favor of a “hard money” policy in the past, but these were his strongest comments to support reinstating the gold standard.

Gingrich would model his “gold commission” after one put in place after Ronald Reagan was elected, when the nation was battling double-digit inflation. But even then, the commission overwhelmingly rejected the idea of a return to the gold standard.

One of only two members of the 17-member commission to endorse a return to the gold standard was Ron Paul, one of Gingrich’s rivals for the GOP nomination.

Gingrich is shown above indicating how much the U.S. dollar is worth relative to the last time the U.S. was on a gold standard (no, not really).

Also see this story at the New York Sun where more details are revealed about how Gingrich and the rest of the GOP field feel about the shiny yellow metal and its role in the world.