Ex-US envoy to UN Bolt may run for president in 2012

New York, Dec. 19 (ANI): Former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton is seriously considering running for president in 2012.

"As I survey the situation, I think the Republican field is wide open," Bolton told POLITICO.

He added: "I don't think the party's anywhere close to a decision. And stranger things have happened. For example, inexperienced senators from Illinois have gotten presidential nominations."

Bolton's explorations are attracting some notice on the right. He's on the cover of the forthcoming issue of National Review, the influential conservative magazine.

Editor Rich Lowry said the magazine made Bolton its subject because of his rising profile in conservative circles.

Bolton would benefit from the contacts acquired over his long career in government.

He started at the U.S. Agency for International Development during the Reagan administration and held ranking positions in the State Department under both presidents Bush.

"I'm obviously aware that people are quite focused on the economy rather than foreign policy issues, but that is something that should and can be altered as people see the nature of the threats around the world that we face," Bolton said.

He added: "Nearly all the experts I've talked to have told me that candidates, in the early days, need a discriminator - something that distinguishes them from the rest of the candidates. I'm just not Generic Governor A or Generic Governor B."

Bolton's combative style could prove attractive to the same conservative base that has embraced New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

Bolton's verbal clashes are legend, especially his 1994 quip that getting rid of 10 stories of the 38-floor United Nations tower "wouldn't make a bit of difference." (He later defended that statement as advocating the trimming of a bloated bureaucracy.)

Vice President Joe Biden, among many others, has called him "a bull in a china shop."

Bolton is now carving out a career as a thinker and pontificator.

He's a regular Fox News commentator, writer of opinion pieces and giver of speeches across the country. He's a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he keeps his office, and is affiliated with the Kirkland and Ellis law firm. (ANI)