Rep. Pete King, the Republican dean of the New York congressional delegation, has flirted on numerous occasions with running for higher office. US Senate, governor, even president.

But those days are behind him, the Long Island lawmaker told me during a CapTon interview last night in the YNN/NY1 skybox at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.

King now seems quite content to make waves from his post as chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, and says he has no foreseeable aspirations, even if the Republicans lose the majority.

“I think you’ve seen all you’re going to get from me,” he said.

“Right now, I don’t see a statewide race. If they wanted to draft me for president, I was available. Nobody took me up on it. I’m just doing what I’m doing.”

“Hey, when I was a kid growing up in Sunnyside, I never thought I’d be anything. So, the fact that I’m sitting here in the convention hall with you, great stuff. What happens happens, but I’m not, you know, life goes on.”

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