Kerrey leaning against running for re-election
January 19, 2000
Web posted at: 6:31 p.m. EST (2331 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey is leaning against running for re-election this year, CNN has learned.
CNN Senior White House Correspondent John King reported Wednesday that Kerrey has told associates he is inclined to not seek re-election. The two-term Democrat has scheduled a news conference for Thursday morning.
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Sen. Bob Kerrey is leaning against a run for re-election.
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Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota), reportedly will meet with Kerrey Wednesday evening in the hope of convincing him to change his mind and run for re-election. Democrats hope to make gains in the Senate in the 2000 elections and Kerrey's retirement would be a setback to those efforts. Nebraska has leaned Republican in recent years.
Sources told CNN that Kerrey, first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1988, has received several job offers, including offers from New York University and the New School University in New York.
Kerrey is one of three senators, including New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone, to endorse former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley for president. Kerrey, who ran for the 1992 Democratic presidential nomination, has clashed repeatedly with the Clinton Administration over Social Security and Medicare overhaul proposals.
But on the whole, Kerrey has been an administration stalwart, voting with the president 91 percent of the time last year. Kerrey currently serves on the Senate Agriculture and Finance Committees, as well as the Select Committee on Intelligence.
Democratic leadership sources told CNN on Tuesday that Kerrey had not told them whether he has made a decision. Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, a close friend of Kerrey's, also did not know what Kerrey had decided to do, according to a spokesman.
The filing date for Nebraska incumbents is February 15.
Kerrey won re-election in 1994 with 55 percent of the vote.
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