Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., continues to weigh a 2008 presidential campaign, and he is hinting that he might run as an independent — perhaps in tandem with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

In an interview Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Hagel, one of the GOP’s sharpest critics of the war in Iraq, said, “I am not happy with the Republican Party today. It has drifted from the party of Eisenhower, of Goldwater, of Reagan, the party that I joined.”

Hagel said he would decide by late summer whether to get into the presidential race. He also voiced support for the notion of a third-party or independent option in 2008, saying, “I think it shakes the system up. The system needs to be shaken up.”

Hagel acknowledged he had dined earlier this month with Bloomberg, who he said “is the kind of individual who should seriously think about this. I think he is.”

Asked whether he could envision himself on a ticket with Bloomberg, Hagel replied: “It’s a great country to think about — a New York boy and a Nebraska boy to be teamed up leading this nation.”