Dobbs weighing future in politics

Recently departed CNN anchor Lou Dobbs on Thursday revealed he was mulling a possible run for the Senate or White House.

"Right now I feel exhilaration at the wide range of choices before me as to what I do next," Dobbs, who left CNN last week, told Reuters in an interview today.

"I am ruling nothing out.... I have come to no conclusions and no decisions," he added. "Do I seek to have some influence on public policy? Absolutely. Do I seek to represent and champion the middle class in this country and those who aspire to it? Absolutely. And I will."

Dobbs, who CNN officials said left the network "amicably," has long garnered national attention for vocalizing his political views.

He has been especially outspoken against immigration -- a stance that many have speculated put him at odds with CNN.

But Thursday's news nevertheless confirmed a number of his old viewers' suspicions that he might run as a third-party candidate to represent his home state of New Jersey, or that he might be jockeying for an early position in the 2012 presidential contest.

Dobbs himself hinted at both possibilities last Wednesday, when he announced during the final episode of his show that he would remain part of the "national conversation" in some respect.

He was again mum on specifics during his Reuters interview this afternoon, but he stressed to reporters he would be "fully and straightforwardly in the public arena no matter what" he said he did next.