Baldwin 2017?
A long time political activist, Alec Baldwin is looking at a run for Mayor of New York City, he tells the New York Times. Baldwin will "probably sit out in 2013 but run in a later election," the paper reports.
A critic of Mayor Bloomberg, especially for his overturning of term limit laws that allowed him a third term in office, Baldwin is a progressive who has spoken out on the war in Iraq, advocated for gay marriage and slammed Sarah Palin for "faux populism."
Despite all his political experience, he plans on going back to school to learn about the inner workings of government, "the reality of the city unions, of contracts, agreements, teachers, infrastructure, decentralizing, everything? And utilities, Con Ed, the M.T.A. -- how does it all work?"
Baldwin has discussed runs for various different offices; in 2009, he said that he would love to run against Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, and in 2011 mused about a Congressional run from his home of Long Island. In the New York Times article, he says he's been approached by activists from various other states asking him to run in their respective states, too.
A resident of the Upper West Side, he says his lofty status in Hollywood and career earnings have not changed him from the young man who grew up in Long Island.
"There are people who make a lot of money who become rich people, and then there are people who make a lot of money, but they don't think like rich people do," he told the Times. "No matter how much money they have, they are the same from their own upbringing. I would definitely put myself in the latter class."
It's a similar sentiment to what he told Eliot Spitzer on his now-defunct CNN show back in January.
"Even though I've had a job which is a very, very interesting and unique job and there's fame and there's money and all this other nonsense that people equate it with, it's a job, it's work, and I think people in my business are very hard working people. But whatever I've accrued in my career, it hasn't changed me as a person," Baldwin insisted.
Most recently, Baldwin has come out in favor of raising the debt ceiling and re-orienting American tax and trade policy.
He's due to star in "30 Rock" for one more year, and has a number of films coming out, meaning a run in the 2017 election may be most appropriate.
For more, click over to the NY Times.