Dobbs: 2012 presidential run not "crazy" UPDATE

Watch your back, Glenn Beck.

Ex-CNNer Lou Dobbs tells WTOP this morning that he feels "liberated and emancipated" since leaving the network — and he's not ruling out the possibility of running for president in 2012.

When one of the WTOP anchors joked that pundits were floating the crazy idea of the immigration-fixated Dobbs running for president, he shot back: "What's so crazy about that?" — and disclosed that he's talking to advisers to suss out his political options.

"For the first time I'm actually listening to [people who want him to run for office]. ... I don't think I have the nature for it. ... But we've got to do something for this country."

Dobbs has become a prime target of Hispanic groups for his fire-breathing pronouncements about illegal immigration — including a discredited claim that Mexicans were bringing leprosy across the border.

These days, he says he's trying to mend fences with immigrants rights groups "to try to bridge some of these conflicts and try to create solutions."

UPDATE [via JMart]: Dobbs tells Fred Thompson he's thinking about it — and will let his wife make the final call.

"I'm going to be talking some more with folks who want me to listen over the next few weeks," Dobbs said. "I don't even know what to tell you in terms of how I'm leaning — I'm going to have the best advic. ... I may make a terrible decision — but I'll have great advice."

Glenn Thrush is senior staff writer at Politico Magazine.