Erickson Rules Out Senate Bid
Well, that was fast. After floating himself as a potential GOP primary challenger to Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss earlier this week, RedState's Erick Erickson says he's decided against a race, writing that it would be "awesome," but "nasty."
"Were I to run for the Senate, it would be a terribly nasty campaign," he writes in a post on Red State explaining his decision. "It'd actually be really awesome, but it'd be really nasty. I have a seven year old, a soon to be four year old, and a wife who does not like being anywhere near a stage. I'm not putting my family through that when the best outcome would mean a sizable pay cut in pay and being away from my kids and wife all the time huddled in a pit vipers often surrounded by too many who viewed me as a useful instrument to their own advancement."
Erickson wrote a post Tuesday hitting Chambliss for saying he might break with Grover Norquist's anti-tax pledge, and said he was giving a bid "prayerful consideration."
But one more prominent name is popping up now that Erickson and businessman Herman Cain have officially ruled out Senate bids: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. From the Southern Political Report:
While the national press bit on a Newt Gingrich hint that he might run for president again in 2016, they missed the fact that the same issue of paying off his considerable debt from the 2012 bid -- a problem for another presidential race -- might disappear should he choose to serve in the U.S. Senate as the best known and most influential freshman in U.S. history. Gingrich is reportedly telling Chambliss intimates not to worry -- that is, for now. But with his huge name identification and a recent Georgia presidential primary win under his belt, early polling would not only show Gingrich ahead of Chambliss, but by a wide enough margin to have money that would otherwise go early on toward a Senate bid instead to debt retirement. Additional donations would go toward taking on Chambliss.
So far, no one has actually announced a primary challenge to the Georgia senator.
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