MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough: “I May Feel The Need To Run For Office Again”

MSNBC’s morning man Joe Scarborough tells PARADE magazine that he may not be done with politics–not covering them on Morning Joe, that is, but serving in Congress.

Scarborough, who was elected to Congress from Florida–and was suspended by MSNBC for supporting candidates in the Sunshine State–said he’s thought about running again. “I think I may at some point.”

What would it take to get Scarborough off TV and onto the campaign trail as a candidate? Scarborough said he’d jump back into what he called the “blood sport” of politics when he felt a very specific call:

An absence of leadership. The same thing that had me run the first time, in 1994, when I felt the country was veering off dangerously in the wrong direction. If Washington continues to fumble issues like taking care of the debt, getting the troops home, and rebuilding our economy, my wife and I may sit down and say, “These are critical things and maybe we need to get back in the ball.”

Scarborough tells PARADE his wife has been a firm brake on any return to politics, and he says he learned a lot from his time in Washington about truly putting family first, advising incoming representatives to ensure they don’t sacrifice their kids for Congress:

Move your family to Washington, Do not listen to consultants who tell you to keep them down in the district for PR purposes. Do not miss your children’s childhood. Do not be away 200 nights a year as I was. Do not put strains on your marriage or family.