HILLSIDE, N.J. (AP) — Former CNN host Lou Dobbs is seriously considering running for US Senate in New Jersey in 2012 as a stepping stone to a possible White House bid — a congressional matchup that would pit one of illegal immigration's biggest critics against a champion for immigrant rights.

Dobbs spokesman Robert Dilenschneider told The Associated Press that Dobbs may challenge Sen. Robert Menendez, a Democrat, but is considering other offers he's received since his abrupt exit from CNN on November 11 after 29 years on the news network.

"A logical step for Lou, should he choose to go into public life, is to run for the next Senate seat in New Jersey, or to accept some kind of appointed position, nationally or in New Jersey," Dilenschneider said.

A Dobbs candidacy in 2012 would set up a pitched battle over immigration against Menendez, the Senate's only Hispanic member.

Dobbs, who owns a farm in rural northwestern New Jersey, flirted briefly this year with a run for governor. He later ripped Republican nominee Chris Christie, a former federal prosecutor, over immigration enforcement and gave the independent candidate air time on CNN.

His attacks on Christie could complicate his entry into Republican politics, since Christie won.

Dobbs was once a Republican but is now an independent. He did not return requests for comment on Wednesday. Dilenschneider said that Dobbs was in Florida and that no decision on his future was expected for at least two weeks.

On Monday, Dobbs said on former Sen. Fred Thompson's radio program that he had been urged to run for president and would talk to some people about it. On Wednesday, Dilenschneider backed off that idea, telling The New York Times a presidential run was a "long way off."

Dobbs, 64, was a CNN original who was one of the TV business' leading financial journalists before taking on other topics post-9/11, and increasingly offering his own opinion. He caused controversy when he pressed President Barack Obama to prove he was born in the United States even after his own network's reporting debunked the question.