Nebraska Democrat Bob Kerrey opts to leave the Senate
January 20, 2000
Web posted at: 11:23 a.m. EST (1623 GMT)
OMAHA, Nebraska (CNN) -- Nebraska Democratic Senator Bob Kerrey will not seek election to a third term in the U.S. Senate, he announced Thursday, opting instead for a return to private life with an emphasis on continued public service.
Kerrey's announcement ends a week of speculation that he might leave the Senate when his second six-year term expires early next year.
"This was a deeply personal decision," Kerrey told an assembled group of reporters at a news conference in Omaha. "I have a spiritual, interpersonal and creative cistern that needs to be filled back up...It's a little dry right now."
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Sen. Bob Kerrey announced Thursday that he will not run for re-election.
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In what amounted to a brief farewell speech, Kerrey thanked members of his family and his staff for sticking by him since he was first elected to the Senate in 1988, and to the "tens of thousands of men and women who put their trust in me with their votes."
During his Senate tenure, Kerrey said, changes in health care, education and the national economy were realized -- all changes that he characterized as beneficial to the people of Nebraska.
"The list of things I have done on my own is small. The list of things we have done together is long," Kerrey said in reference to his congressional colleagues, his staff and the electorate. "I will leave political life with gratitude to have served the people of Nebraska , and with respect for the power and goodness of Americans."
Kerrey's choice not to run is bad news for Democrats, who had been counting on him to hold the seat in an increasingly Republican state. Democrats now hold 45 seats in the U.S. Senate to 55 seats for the GOP. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, (D-South Dakota), reportedly spoke with Kerrey on Wednesday night in an effort to convince him to reconsider.
"I had two speeches prepared up until 11 o'clock last night -- one saying I was going to stay, I saying I was not going to seek re-election," Kerrey said.
Kerrey, a Lincoln, Nebraska, native who graduated from the University of Nebraska, served in Vietnam as a member of the elite Navy SEALs and earned the Congressional Medal of Honor, America's highest military honor. He is 56.
He entered the private sector in 1972 after returning from the war, building a successful chain of restaurants and health clubs.
He became Nebraska's governor 10 years later and soon brought the state's deficit under control, changing it from a 3 percent deficit to a 7 percent surplus by the time he left in 1987.
Asked if he would consider taking presidential positions at New York University or the New School -- two posts for which he is a rumored candidate -- Kerrey said he was leaving all of his options open, but he would prefer to maintain a "significant presence in Nebraska."
"It's been my home for 56 years," he said.
Asked if he might consider running again for office, Kerrey replied, "Never say 'no.'"
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