CNN has approached ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich about replacing Pat Buchanan on “Crossfire.”

Fiery conservative Buchanan took a leave of absence from “Crossfire” in February to concentrate on his 2000 presidential bid.

Temporarily, he was replaced “on the right” by Robert Novak, who teams with liberal-minded Bill Press on the nightly political debate show.

CNN, however, is still looking for a fulltime replacement for Buchanan, who also left “Crossfire” twice before – in 1991 and ’95 – to pursue his presidential ambitions.

“They originally asked him to be one of the fulltime hosts and we told them we would get back to them – which isn’t a yes,” a Gingrich spokesman said yesterday. “But he doesn’t have enough time to fit that into his schedule right now.”

“We’re not going to comment,” said a CNN spokeswoman. “Our overall search is confidential as far as who we have or haven’t spoken with.

“We’ll continue to have guest hosts and the search is still on,” said the spokeswoman.

“Mr. Gingrich is setting up a strategic corporate consulting company, is giving speeches for the Washington Speakers Bureau and is starting a new political action committee,” hisspokesman said.

“He’s very happy with ‘Crossfire’ and thinks it provides a great service and outlet to discuss issues on television. But he’s just not going to do any TV for a while.”