South Florida had to know that booting Allen West out of Congress wouldn't mean an end to reading about Allen West's antics. The guy almost immediately landed a gig on Fox News after leaving Washington, after all.

Still, dealing with West's rants about Muslims and Obamacare on Murdoch's network is a different animal than dealing with Allen West, presidential candidate. That title may not be official yet, but West spent this past weekend in New Hampshire acting like a guy putting his name out there for 2016's GOP bid for the White House.

See also: Allen West, Uncut

West became a Tea Party hero during his two years in Congress, but alienated many more moderate conservatives in his district with a non-stop sideshow of hardline tactics in DC. His highlight reel included declaring that 80 percent of Democrats are "secret communists," declaring war on Islam as a religion, and slamming Lady Gaga.

But thanks in part to redistricting, he lost a tight race to Democrat Patrick Murphy last fall. His popularity with the GOP's Tea Party wing has stayed strong, though, and West is at least floating the balloon for a 2016 run.

He's hinted at the ambition in the past -- including comparing himself to Abraham Lincoln, who served just one term in Congress before heading to the White House -- but this weekend marked a notable trip to early state battleground New Hampshire.

West chatted on an AM radio station, visited naval cadets and delivered a keynote at a Nashua Republican City Committee dinner.

A Facebook campaign to draft West for the presidential race has a respectable 10,000 likes, meanwhile.

Yeah, it's way to early to guess what Allen West is actually up to and you're much safer putting your money on that other one-time South Florida Tea Party Hero who's still actually a force on Capitol Hill. But unless he wins a Congressional race in the meantime, don't be shocked if this is only the first of many New Hampshire stops for the political firebrand.

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