Over a leisurely breakfast at the Cosmos Club in Washington, the 71-year-old put his odds of winning at “less than 10 percent.” But he sincerely wants to break the paralysis in Congress and thinks a handful of “centrist” independents could help orchestrate a grand bargain to close the deficit.

At the very least, he wants to draw attention to fiscal issues.

“My choices are to start a foundation, write a book or run for office,” he told POLITICO during a 75-minute interview. “The journey would be more important than the destination.”

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Pressler, who spent 22 years in Congress before losing to Sen. Tim Johnson (D) in 1996, endorsed President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

Former Gov. Mike Rounds (R) is the strong frontrunner both in the GOP primary and the general election to succeed the retiring Johnson. Democrats have thus far failed to recruit a top-flight candidate, though liberal Rick Weiland has the support of former boss Tom Daschle.

Presser rejected the idea he would be a spoiler for Republicans, arguing that Rounds is “so far ahead” that it could be a moot point. The GOP must win South Dakota to have any hope of gaining the six seats they need for a Senate majority.

“I don’t think I’ve moved. I think the party has moved,” he said. “I feel like a man without a party…My intent is not to hurt anyone.”

Pressler’s views on social issues would limit his appeal to many conservatives. He supports South Dakota’s abortion law, which allows women to terminate pregnancies in the first trimester. He voted for the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, but he now supports gay marriage.

“I was wrong, and I have corrected that big time,” he said.

Pressler will make up his mind by January. He would need to collect at least 3,300 signatures between then and April.

He’d visit all 66 counties looking for volunteers, anticipates putting $50,000 from his savings toward getting his campaign off the ground and thinks he’d get by with just one staffer.

“I don’t have any personal wealth,” he said.

Pressler, his hair gray, looked dapper in a dark suit, with a pocket square and blue suspenders. He was a Rhodes Scholar before deploying in 1966 to Vietnam, where he served two tours of combat duty. He returned, graduated from Harvard Law School and won election to the House in 1974. He got promoted to the Senate in 1978.

In the very off-chance he returned to Congress, Pressler promises to serve just one term and raise no money.

He thinks a solution to the deficit would be pretty easy to reach if both sides cared more about policy than politics: raise some taxes, close some loopholes, slightly raise the Social Security eligibility age, lower the cost-of-living adjustment and cut defense spending.

“I don’t meet any rich people who aren’t willing to pay slightly more taxes … if it would help our country,” he said, criticizing past Republican presidents for running up deficits and Grover Norquist for pushing the no-new-taxes pledge.

Pressler praised Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk (who he called a “liberal Republican”), Maine Sen. Angus King (elected last year as an independent), Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson (for their deficit-reduction plan), Jon Huntsman Jr. and former Obama economic adviser Larry Summers (for being serious about deficits),

The former senator said he splits his time between Foggy Bottom and Sioux Falls. He has devoted big chunks of the last few years to working as an academic on semester-at-a-time contracts. If he doesn’t run for Senate, he’ll teach in the Philippines next year though the Fulbright Scholar Program

Pressler has also been an instructor at South Dakota schools, including two community colleges for Native Americans. He’s flying back Thursday afternoon to give a lecture at the University of Sioux Falls about the 1791 Whiskey Rebellion.

His wife, Harriet, doesn’t want him to get in the Senate race because she’s afraid he’ll get ridiculed.

But Pressler notes that he has waged long-shot campaigns before. A 2002 bid for the state’s sole House seat failed when then-Gov. Bill Janklow joined the Republican primary.

He even briefly sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1980. His goal then was to draw attention to the plight of Vietnam veterans, including getting help for those exposed to Agent Orange. He struggled to raise money and discovered that many of his fellow activist veterans were actually Democrats.

“I’m glad I did it,” he said, “but it was bad political judgement probably.”