Controversial Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger is seriously considering another run for governor in 2018, and perhaps the presidency in 2020, he said in a televised appearance Friday morning.

“Of course I’m thinking about it. It’s been 20 years, I’ve watched this state deteriorate to the point at which we can’t travel our roads. Our schools are disintegrating. We’re not paying workers what they should be paid. We’re engaging in a war on teachers," he said during a taping of WKAR-TV’s "Off the Record."

“I honestly believe that we have had a dearth, an absence of leadership in Michigan for so many years.”

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Fieger ran for governor against former Gov. John Engler in 1998 and lost badly, 62%-38%, putting nearly $6 million of his own money into the campaign. That’s a debt he still carries on his campaign finance reports.

But the 2018 election cycle is different, he said. He started running ads across the state -- nearly $200,000 worth of commercials in metro Detroit alone -- in January, talking about his fear of the presidency of Republican Donald Trump. The tagline of those commercials: 2020 A Clear Vision for America. In the taping, he called Trump a "narcissist who may be a sociopath" and Vice President Mike Pence a "committed right wing lunatic."

“I would not bet against Geoffrey Fieger. Do I necessarily want to? I don’t need it. I never left, I certainly don’t need the attention,” he said. “If I do run for governor, I’m not going to promise not to run for president. Because I think '2020 A Clear Vision for America' is a damn good slogan.

“And If I became the governor, I’d be thinking long and hard, because what I’m seeing on the national scene is even more frightening than Michigan, right now,” he added.

If he gets into the race, he'll encounter a big Democratic field in the August 2018 primary election, including: former Senate minority leader Gretchen Whitmer of East Lansing; former head of the Detroit Health Department Abdul El-Sayed of Detroit; retired Xerox executive William Cobbs of Farmington Hills; emergency medical services driver Kentiel White of Southgate; Justin Giroux of Wayland and Ann Arbor businessman Shri Thandear.

The Democratic race opened up wider this week with the announcement by U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint, that he's seeking re-election to Congress, rather than jumping into the governor's race. With Kildee out, other Democratic names are swirling in the political gossip sphere, including Ann Arbor attorney Mark Bernstein; state Sens. David Knezek, D-Dearborn Heights and Curtis Hertel, D-East Lansing; and U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Dearborn.

On the Republican side, Lt. Gov. Brian Calley of Portland and Attorney General Bill Schuette of Midland are expected to get into the race. And, already filing paperwork for the job are: insurance agent Joseph Derose of Williamston; businessman Evan Space of Grand Rapids; obstetrician Dr. Jim Hines of Saginaw and private investigator Mark McFarlin of Pinconning.

Fieger dismissed the two top Democratic names in the race, saying he doesn't know who Whitmer is and that Bernstein will be financed by his family's law firm.

Despite the confidence he brings to his ambitions for political office -- "I'm darned serious about it," he said -- Fieger also is wary of getting into another expensive and tedious race.

"I think a lot about it, because I’m not as wealthy as Donald Trump and I still have little kids and I’m not getting any younger," he said. "Experience teaches you, once burned, twice shy."

And there's another political job that he really wants: Mayor of Detroit.

"I told Mike Duggan, I will run for mayor of the city of Detroit, if you want to be governor, because I would really like that job," Fieger said. "He said, 'I’m not running, I’m not running, I’m not running.'"

Contact Kathleen Gray: kgray99@freepress.com, 313-223-4430, or on Twitter @michpoligal