WEST DES MOINES, IOWA – Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had some advice for his fellow Republican presidential candidate, embattled businessman Herman Cain:  Stop, open up your heart, and think prayerfully about what you owe your family.

Gingrich also seemed to suggest that Cain would no longer be on his vice presidential short list, as he had suggested in the past.

Our interview with the new Republican frontrunner will air on World News Thursday night, and Good Morning America Friday morning.

TAPPER: Your friend Herman Cain who probably has had better months in his life, you have been through difficult political storms, what would your advice to him be and do you still think he would be on your short list for vice president?

GINGRICH: Well, I mean, my advice to Herman having lived through a lot of different experiences is he has to stop and open up his heart and he has to think very prayerfully about what he owes his own family and what he owes his own future. I don’t think any of the rest of us can tell him what he ought to do and I think he needs to deal with it and I don’t have any comment on Herman beyond that until he decides what he’s going to do.

TAPPER: Do you still he’s still vice presidential material?

GINGRICH: I think he’s a very fine person, but I think he’s got to sort through where he’s at. And that’s something that’s very personal and it’s something he and his family need to do together.

-Jake Tapper and Team Iowa: Stephanie Smith, Shushannah Walshe, and Elicia Dover