Zuckerman says he's undecided on Senate challenge in N.Y.

The media and real estate tycoon said this weekend he hasn't decided whether or not he'll challenge Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

Mortimer Zuckerman, the New York media and real estate tycoon, said this weekend he hasn't decided whether or not he'll run for Senate.

Zuckerman, a billionaire and pundit who serves as editor in chief of U.S. News and World Report and publisher of the New York Daily News, said he hasn't given much thought yet to challenging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in this fall's elections.

"I have not spoken about it because I really haven't thought about it all that much," Zuckerman said during an appearance this weekend on "The McLaughlin Group," on which he appears as a regular panelist.

He said that he had made no decision on whether or not to enter the race, which he would likely do as an independent or Republican candidate. His entry would add to an already tumultuous Senate field in New York, where former Rep. Harold Ford (D-Tenn.) is mulling a primary challenge to Gillibrand, as well.

The 72-year-old Zuckerman lamented the climate of partisanship in the Senate and said that more lawmakers were needed who were willing to form centrist solutions to issues facing the U.S.

"What we have to do is find some way to find an operating center in this country to resolve these problems," he said. "There has to be more people ready to reach out to the middle and make a solution."

News of a potential Senate run for Zuckerman was first leaked earlier in February and published by the New York Times. Zuckerman said he hadn't been able to comment until now because he had been skiing in Aspen.

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