Despite the seemingly rocky start to his nearly official presidential campaign, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on Thursday that he was not worried about being tripped up after spending more than a decade outside the direct glare of the media spotlight.

"No, I didn't notice I was out [of the spotlight]," Gingrich said. "I'm perfectly happy."

Previously, Gingrich admitted to a "ragged" rollout of the exploratory phase of his campaign early last month after aides gave conflicting statements to the press about whether the former speaker would announce the formation of an official exploratory committee. Gingrich took only one question at a much-hyped press conference in Atlanta, in which he merely announced that he was launching a new website.

More recently, Gingrich faced significant ridicule when media outlets suggested that he had contradicted his own position on whether President Obama should have established a no-fly zone in Libya.

But on Thursday, Gingrich pointed to a video that was posted on a conservative website as evidence that his stance on the issue had been consistent.

"Go look at the six-and-a-half minute video on HotAir on Libya, which starts in February," he said. "It's just me -- what I said over the last six weeks, and then you can decide."

Gingrich was on Capitol Hill to speak to freshmen Republican House members and later delivered a speech on health care policy, in which he called for a dramatic revamping of the health care system once the current health care reform law is repealed, which he predicted would happen by April of 2013.

Gingrich advocated for a wide array of cost-cutting measures but vowed that he would fight any GOP effort to scale back funding for the National Institutes of Health.

The health care speech was emblematic of Gingrich's most glaring strengths and weaknesses as a presidential candidate.

The former speaker's grasp of policy detail was indisputable, as he riffed on topics ranging from neuroscience and health information technology, while effortlessly spouting off statistics on kidney dialysis.

But his wonkishness could also be one of his biggest political liabilities, since the former speaker often has trouble condensing his remarks and staying on topic in settings where potential supporters may be yearning for more inspirational rhetoric and fewer minute details.

As for the question of when he will make his campaign official, Gingrich suggested it will be a matter of weeks.

"We're trying to finish out the exploratory process, and I think by the first week of May, we'll have done that," he said.