From The Boston Globe:
Kerry won't run for president in '08
WASHINGTON --Senator John F. Kerry plans to announce today that he will not run in the 2008 presidential race, and will instead remain in Congress and seek reelection to his Senate seat next year, according to senior Democratic officials.
Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, plans to say he will remain in the Senate to recommit himself to efforts to extricate the United States from the war in Iraq. His decision to stay out of the presidential race reflects a realization that he would have had an uphill climb in capturing the Democratic nomination, given the other party heavyweights who are already in the race, according to the officials, who spoke to the Globe on condition of anonymity.Kerry plans to make his plans known with a speech on the Senate floor this afternoon, and is taping a message to e-mail his supporters to explain his decision.
Kerry, the party's 2004 presidential nominee, has been acting like a 2008 candidate virtually since he lost to President Bush -- traveling the country, spreading money to other Democratic candidates, and keeping in place a campaign infrastructure that was ready for another presidential bid.
But according to Kerry associates, the senator's plans changed dramatically in the fallout of his election-eve ``botched joke" about the education levels of US troops. The harsh reaction to that incident -- from many Democrats as well as Republicans -- displayed to Kerry the extreme skepticism within his own party about whether he should mount another run.
Meanwhile, back on the farm in Iowa, there are new poll results, courtesy of RealClearPolitics:
Here are the results from a new 2008 Iowa Poll by Strategic Vision:
Republicans
Rudy Giuliani 25%
John McCain 21%
Newt Gingrich 13%
Mitt Romney 8%
Chuck Hagel 7%
Tommy Thompson 2%
Tom Tancredo 2%
Sam Brownback 2%
Mike Huckabee 1%
George Pataki 1%
Jim Gilmore 1%
Duncan Hunter 1%
Undecided 16%Democrats
John Edwards 25%
Barack Obama 17%
Tom Vilsack 16%
Hillary Clinton 15%
Joe Biden 4%
John Kerry 3%
Wesley Clark 2%
Bill Richardson 1%
Chris Dodd 1%
Dennis Kucinich 1%
Undecided 15%
Hillary is tied with undecided for fourth, and Edwards is in front. On the GOP side, if you've been watching the polls, Newt has been crawling higher and higher in the numbers. A few days ago Newt admitted he might run as a "last resort." That could make things interesting for the other candidates. As far as I am concerned, Newt is a weasel, but he is damned savvy weasel.
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