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Hagel Announces He Will Not Seek Reelection in '08
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ShareSeptember 10, 2007 11:36 AM
ABC News Z. Byron Wolf Reports: Another week, another anti-surge Republican announces he will not seek reelection in 2008.
Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner, who tried for months to diplomatically oppose the surge, announced early this month that he would not seek reelection; today GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel from Nebraska , a more pointed anti-war voice, says the same.
Hagel announced at a press conference in Omaha Monday that he would not seek reelection or any elective office in 2008.
Watch video of the press conference HERE.
"I said after I was elected in 1996 that 12 years in the Senate would probably be enough. It is. I have always believed that democracies work best when there is a constant cycle of new energy and ideas, and fresh leadership," Hagel said.
Hagel's criticism of the war had been much harsher than Warner's had been and, where Warner tried (unsuccessfully) to draft legislation that would gain support from both parties, Hagel acted with his vote. Hagel is one of two Republicans (the other being Sen. Gordon Smith of Oregon) to vote more than once with Democrats who wanted to set a binding timeline for withdrawal.
"All 100 Senators oughta be on the line on this," Hagel famously said at a meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January - long before most Republicans were publicly skeptical of the war. "If you want a safe job, go sell shoes," he admonished his colleagues.
Hagel had at one point been rumored as a potential Presidential candidate: for the GOP and later courted by the non-partisan Unity 08 centrist ticket.
Hagel's decision not to seek reelection puts yet another Senate seat very much in play for Democrats. Former Nebraska Governor Democrat Bob Kerrey, for instance, who is currently President of the New School, has been rumored to have interest in returning to the Senate and would be a formidable Democratic candidate in the Cornhusker State.
September 10, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (8)
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Good luck to a fine Senator!
Posted by: A Viet Nam Vet | Sep 10, 2007 12:38:23 PM
Hagel has a good point that democracy is based on a constant circulation of new ideas and such. For a Senator to realize that, makes me truly glad.
Posted by: Erica | Sep 10, 2007 2:24:28 PM
I am sad to see Chuck Hagel go. He seemed to have a good head on his shoulders and a decent heart. He also loved America enough to serve when it was not popular. It is always a shame when a good man leaves his job.
Posted by: Sean O'Brien | Sep 10, 2007 2:38:31 PM
I do not regret voting for the Democratic Party but if there were more wo/men like Senator Hagel... I might have swung both ways, at times.
Thank you for your integrity and good luck on your next life.
Posted by: JB | Sep 10, 2007 11:05:33 PM
It's a shame to lose one of the very very few people in Washington that deserves any respect what-so-ever. This is truly a great loss to the entire country. Good luck to you senator Hagel.
Posted by: DK | Sep 11, 2007 3:59:19 AM
Senator Hagel is one of the few republicans that stood up and stood out lately, railing against the obvious disease that republicanism has turned into. I applaud you and Senator Warner for stepping aside because I see that you both may be allowing Democrats to take your seats and it is punishment for your party that spat at you two as they recently have done. As a lifelong Democrat that seldom swayed(I found a republican for cess pool supervisor to vote for one time), I salute your service to this country and want to let you know we will carry on your allegiance to the military if we can ever get them back from the clutches of the neo con swindlers that were loosed upon us. Please pray we can...
Posted by: daddy | Sep 11, 2007 12:43:21 PM
Integrity, honesty, leadership, no wonder Senator Hagel is bowing out servicing the Republican Agenda. The Republican Party of the likes of Barry Goldwater, George Miller, honest righteous sometimes misguided but fluid in there learning curve died by the hand of the Evangelicals trying to take over this country by inflitrating it in the late 1970's after Pat Robertson's failed Presidential attempt.
Posted by: Sandra Lea | Sep 11, 2007 4:54:47 PM
Frankly, as a fellow Nebraskan I am glad to see Hagel remove himself from running again. He doesn't represent this state on many of his positions and is an embarassment to many.
Posted by: Dennis | Sep 12, 2007 8:45:29 AM
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