King says the PAC gives him the opportunity to campaign for ideas, not just himself. King launches PAC

Rep. Peter King, the hawkish New York Republican who is weighing a presidential bid, has launched a political action committee.

The PAC, American Leadership Now, aims to boost Republicans who are moderate on domestic issues and tough on foreign policy, King told POLITICO in a phone call from New Hampshire, the first-in-the-nation primary state that he has visited five times in the last five months.


“It’s a vehicle that will enable me to go around the country to try to find like-minded Republicans who do not support a government shutdown, who do not support Ted Cruz’s whole idea of a government shutdown, of Rand Paul being isolationist,” he said.

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Sens. Cruz (R-Texas) and Paul (R-Ky.) are both considered possible 2016 presidential contenders.

“Senator Cruz remains focused on making Washington listen by protecting working people from Obamacare and getting the economy growing again,” said Catherine Frazier, a spokeswoman for the Texan. “Americans don’t care about about bickering among D.C. politicians.”

A representative for Paul didn’t respond to a request for comment.

A King presidential bid would be a long shot — the congressman is relatively moderate on social issues, he’s friendly to unions and he is often critical of his own party — and he said it would likely be at least a year before he makes any decisions about 2016. But he has indicated interest in a presidential run in part because he wants to move the Republican foreign policy debate in a more assertive direction, away from the hands-off approach sometimes advocated by people such as Paul and reflected in public opinion polls.

The PAC “is committed to the tried and true American virtues of protecting the homeland, expanding opportunity for all citizens, and delivering a better country for the next generation,” according to a description on the organization’s website.

“It gives me the opportunity to campaign for ideas, not just my own congressional campaign,” King said.