Vermont Independent and self-described socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders told The Associated Press on Friday he will decide by March whether or not he will run for president in 2016.
"I don't want to do it unless I can do it well," he told the AP. "I don't want to do it unless we can win this thing."
A run for the presidency would be a "gut decision," Sanders said, adding that he hasn't yet decided whether he would run as an independent, as he has done in Vermont, or a Democrat, which could place him as a challenger to Democratic favorite Hillary Clinton.
Former New Hampshire state senator, longtime Democratic Party leader and Clinton supporter, Peter Burling, told the AP that Sanders might have an advantage over Clinton due to the amount of "unfettered passion" he is capable of delivering, something Clinton lacked in the 2008 race.
The 75-year-old's health "is good," he told AP, saying that he couldn't remember the last time he called in sick to work.
Sanders said in the interview that the growing wealth gap in the U.S. is becoming more dire and is a motivating force in his political decisions.
"You have one family, the Walton family of Walmart, owning more wealth than the bottom 40 percent of the American people," he told AP. "We have 95 percent of all new income going to the top 1 percent. You have millions of families unable to afford to send their kids to college. People are desperately worried about whether or not they are going to retire with dignity."
A 12-step plan will restore the economy and especially focus on the middle class, Sanders said.
Sanders has crafted a $1 trillion infrastructure building program that he says would "create 13 million decent-paying jobs," transform the U.S. energy system "away from fossil fuels and into energy efficiency and sustainable energy," and craft worker-friendly international trade deals and legislation to strengthen unions.
