A leader of a national effort to coax Sarah Palin into the Alaska U.S. Senate race says Palin will need to decide in the “near future” whether she’s going to run.

Niger (NY’-jer) Innis, with the Tea Party Leadership Fund, says he believes that if she got in the race, she’d be “quite formidable” in raising money and competing with Democratic Sen. Mark Begich.

Palin recently told a radio host she has considered running for Begich’s seat, because people have asked her to. But she also said she would like to see new candidates enter the race.