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By The Hill Editors
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Posted: 09/11/07 06:01 PM [ET] |
Sen. Chuck Hagel’s (R-Neb.) official retirement announcement Monday was as definitive as one could reasonably ask and certainly more definitive than his previous declaration, in March, on the subject of his political future.
In a press briefing at the Omaha Press Club, the former U.S. Marine and two-term senator said: “I will not seek a third term in the United States Senate, nor do I intend to be a candidate for any office in 2008.”
The second clause of that sentence leaves a chink of light open to the possibility of a presidential run — “do not intend/no intention” is a standard trope in studiedly ambiguous political rhetoric — but the chances of Hagel actually setting off down the path to the White House range from slim to none.
He toyed with the idea not least because people kept asking him about it, but it is likely that he relinquishes the notion of President Hagel with a reluctant yearning, as any ambitious politician would.
Yet he never convinced many people (probably not even himself) that he was a serious contender, despite frissons of excited speculation occasioned by such things as his lunch earlier this year with Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire mayor of New York City, who is seen as an outside possibility for a self-financed late run as an Independent.
There was a sense about Hagel’s flirtation with the presidency that he was considering it partly because he was tired of the Senate and it was the next obvious move for a man who did not regard the sky as the limit. Even so, he did not display the hunger for it, nor the determination, that are probably required of those who bid successfully for the highest executive office.
His maverick conservatism was fuel for a presidential run but not the reason for one. With his self-confidence and his opposition to the Iraq war, it could only have carried him so far. But none of these qualities would have been enough in a race dominated by money and organization.
The Nebraskan would have found himself instantly in the second or third tier of candidates for the GOP nomination, had he sought it, and without a machine powerful enough to get to the finish line had he chosen to run as an Independent.
So now he his bowing out, and another Republican seat in a conservative state falls into the sights of Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), who is again running the Democrats’ campaign committee.
Democrats would surely love to have former Sen. Bob Kerrey (Neb.) make a bid for the open seat. He is well known and liked in Nebraska and would have a strong chance, even against Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, who is seen as the Republicans’ most promising possible candidate.
The horizon isn’t getting any brighter for the GOP. |
