Lou Dobbs for president? Katie bar the borders
by Mark Silva, and updated

Pat Buchanan did it -- parlaying a high-profile cable television network soapbox into a campaign for president.

Will Lou Dobbs do it?

Will he take that bully -- and we mean, bully -- cable pulpit of his on CNN, with his nightly harrangue about the nation's "broken borders,'' and turn it into a campaign for president?

No, pretty much, he said this evening on his own network.

"I've been saying for some time, I’m very flattered that a number of people have asked me to run for office,'' Dobbs told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "That isn’t where my interest lies.

"I’m an advocacy journalist,'' he said (We're glad here that he explained that part of what he does on CNN each evening).

"You never say never, but the fact is, my commitment, my interest lies in doing what I do,'' said Dobbs, adding that he'd have to give up working with Wolf.

The folks at U.S. News and World Report were talking up the Dobbs idea today, afer Dobbs appeared on ABC's Good Morning America this morning and also cast doubt on the prospect of a campaign, without really ruling it out.

In Washington Whispers:

This,, earlier, from U.S. News:

"Remember when conservative pundit Pat Buchanan ran for the GOP nomination in 1992, miffed with former President George H.W. Bush's policies?

"Now there's talk of another media big shot considering a bid: CNN's Lou Dobbs.

"Fans say he'd most likely run as a third-party populist, as Ross Perot did the same year Buchanan ran. A TV business anchor, Dobbs has morphed into a powerful voice calling for new national leadership and ending illegal immigration.

"While not ruling out a run, he says, "I've got a day job that I love."

"Dobbs, however, says that he is desperate for a change in the direction of the country. Asked about accepting a vice presidential nomination, he says, "How about secretary of state? I don't want to seem overly ambitious."

Posted by Mark Silva on November 20, 2007 3:37 PM | Permalink

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