New York Rep. Pete King, the newest addition to The CHASE, suggests to Bloomberg Television that the impetus behind his possible 2016 presidential run is to blunt Ted Cruz.

He also makes clear that when he says no other Republican in the country would take on Cruz, he’s not targeting border state Gov. Chris Christie.

Here’s the excerpt of his appearance with Al Hunt:

“. . . For instance, on this whole thing with the Ted Cruz and the shutdown, I don’t know if any other Republican in the country that out and out came out and condemned Ted Cruz and said this is wrong. Nobody in Congress did. And other leaders around the country seemed like they wanted to wait until it was over and then come in or say we have to”

“I’m not going to target Chris Christie. But the fact is that nobody else spoke. And I think people want leadership. I was there. I took a chance when Ted Cruz was the darling of the Republicans. It was only two weeks ago, but he was the darling of Republicans. I was the only guy taking him on nationwide. So I think people want leadership. They want a pragmatic conservative, a guy who can work, like Ronald Reagan, building trade unions, cops, firefighters, tough on the – on national security, on homeland security, and is going to fight for the great Jack Kemp-type economic plan.”

King sounds like he’s declaring victory in his verbal fisticuffs with Cruz now that Republicans have been gravitating towards a deal with Democrats to end the government shutdown without repealing the health care law.

Given King’s personal animosity towards Cruz, it wouldn’t be so surprising if the Texan’s own 2016 decision determines King’s as well.

Follow Dave’s blog at TheRun2016.com