Newt Gingrich is waiting until September to declare whether he intends to seek the Republican 2008 nomination, but the former House speaker has attracted an unlikely cheerleader: the liberal ex-governor of New York, Mario Cuomo.

“Incidentally, if I can pause and be erratically independent of my text, I think you would make a great candidate for president on the Republican side, I really do,” Mr. Cuomo said, turning to Mr. Gingrich.

Still, the two men clashed on everything from how to handle North Korea, Iran, Iraq, health care, homeland security, poverty, voting, religion, and Social Security.

The three-term governor made the suggestion Wednesday at Cooper Union — in the same hall where Lincoln spoke in 1860 about slavery in a speech that historians credit with his winning the presidency.

The architect of the Republican congressional coup in 1994, Mr. Gingrich has been discussed in the press as a possible sleeper candidate who could take advantage of the fact that Mayor Giuliani and Senator McCain lean to the left on some social issues, and that Governor Romney of Massachusetts has wavered on gay marriage and abortion.

Mr. Cuomo, who didn’t endorse any candidate, quipped that Mr. Gingrich’s “great Republican tide washed me out of office,” and he warned Mr. Gingrich to be wary about the compliment.

“There’s a terrible evil possibility here, which I want you not even to dwell on,” Mr. Cuomo said to laughter. “That’s really a kiss of death. I already did it to Mayor Giuliani. I can get both of you by being nice to you.