Is Representative Peter King of New York really going to run for president?
Mr. King, a Long Island Republican, is certainly helping to generate buzz around the idea, recently sending a fund-raising solicitation to supporters saying that he is considering a run after his name was “floated†as a possible candidate by prominent members of the party.
In the letter, Mr. King acknowledged that he was “nowhere near ready to declare my candidacy.†But in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe†on Friday, he suggested that if he ultimately decided to enter the presidential race, it would be partly in response to Republicans like Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a Tea Party favorite and prospective presidential candidate who has been critical of the Central Intelligence Agency’s drone program.
“It bothers me when the leading Republicans out there, someone like Rand Paul, seem more concerned about an American being killed in Starbucks by a C.I.A. drone than he is about Islamic terrorism,†Mr. King, an 11-term Congressman, said.
Mr. King, who is known as a bit of a maverick within the Republican Party, has talked about running for higher office before â€" including the United States Senate in 2010 â€" only to drop the idea in favor of keeping his relatively safe seat in Congress.
If nothing else, talk of a presidential run will mobilize his financial supporters at a time when Democrats see Mr. King, a devout Catholic with conservative positions on a number of social issues, as increasingly vulnerable to a challenge in heavily Democratic New York.
