(Via Right Scoop) No,  this is no joke and he doesn’t speak for his wife. But he did tell ABC  News that he believes that Newt Gingrich has gone through much of what  his wife went through in her VP run and believes that helps prepare one  for the presidency:

ABC NEWS – Sarah Palin’s husband is endorsing Newt Gingrich for president, Todd Palin told ABC News today.

But  Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and John McCain’s 2008  Republican running mate, has yet to decide “who is best able to go up  against Barack Obama,” Todd Palin said.

Palin said he has not  spoken to Gingrich or anyone from the former House speaker’s campaign.  But he said he respects Gingrich for what he went through in the 1990s  and compared that scrutiny in public life to what Sarah Palin went  through during her run for the vice presidency.

Todd Palin said he  believes that being in the political trenches and experiencing the  highs and lows helps prepare a candidate for the future and the job of  president.

He did not criticize any of the other candidates and said his “hat is off to everyone” in the Republican race.

But  Todd Palin did point to last summer, when a large portion of Gingrich’s  staff resigned and the candidate was left, largely by himself, to run  the campaign.

Gingrich’s ability to overcome the obstacle and  still move up in the polls showed his ability to campaign and survive,  according to Todd Palin, who said Gingrich is not one of the typical  “beltway types” and that his campaign has “burst out of the political  arena and touched many Americans.”