Barbour, lobbyist-in-chief?

Christian Heinze finds, buried in a long interview at the Hoover Institution, Haley Barbour's most explicit consideration yet of 2012, and perhaps a test of his response to being cast as a -- gasp -- lobbyist:

And if I decide to run for President, I won't know what the answer is, either. But I will know this: if I run for President, what you see is what you get, and I am from Mississippi, I do have a southern accent. I was a lobbyist and a pretty damned good one. And I'm very proud -- we were talking before the show came on -- I am happy about my life. I've got a great marriage. I've got great family, and I've had a great career. Wouldn't do anything differently.

And I will tell you this -- the next President of the United States on January 21, 2013 - - is going to start lobbying. He's going to be lobbying Congress, he's going to be lobbying other countries. He's going to be lobbying the business community. He's going to be lobbying the labor unions, the governors, because that's what Presidents do, and I feel like it's an advantage for me to have the chance to do that.

As far as southern accents and Mississippi, this country may be looking for the anti-Obama in 2012. Don't know. Could be.