In discussing the future of the Republican Party on NBC’s “Meet the Press— on Sunday, former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) sounded almost like a candidate for president building a platform for the 2012 election.But Gingrich said he would not even decide on a 2012 White House bid until 2011.Gingrich said he disagreed with former Vice President Dick Cheney’s recent dismissal of former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s role in the Republican Party, noting that the party should be looking for ways to expand, rather than shrink.“I think Republicans are going to be very foolish if they run around … seeing how much they can purge us down to the smallest possible base,— Gingrich said. “To be a national party you have to have a big enough tent that you inevitably have fights inside the tent. Ronald Reagan understood that. … He consciously wanted the broadest possible coalition. That’s how he carried 49 states in 1984.—But when asked if he’s going to try to follow Reagan’s footsteps to the White House, Gingrich was coy.“I’m not going to think about it until 2011,— he said.