Then, Kahn reached out personally to Santelli to encourage him to run in a voicemail message. The next day, Santelli called back.

“He was very interested and surprised because it was something he had never considered for himself,” Kahn told POLITICO. “And over the course of maybe a week or so, we went back and forth and he finally said, ‘I’m real interested. I took it very seriously. But I’ve never been in politics before and I’m happy with what I do, so I’m going to take a pass.’” Kahn says that he and Santelli have communicated more than ten times via phone, email and text message. (We’ve reached out to Santelli through a CNBC spokesman and will update this report when we hear back.)