1998 Ranger with trouble starting in cold weather

My 98 Ford Ranger (automatic tranny) has trouble starting in cold weather. According to the manual you shouldn’t have to step on the gas to get it to start, but in cold weather I have to give it a LOT of gas to get it to start, then have to manually depress the accellerator slightly to keep it running until it warms up or it dies. Sometimes, when I’ve been manually idling for a couple of minutes, the automatic choke kicks in and I can take my foot off the gas and it won’t die. What’s going on? It usually starts on the first or second try without pressing on the accellerator in warmer weather. HELP!