Former Sen. Bob Kerrey reconsidering run for US Senate

Former Neb. Sen. Bob Kerrey, 68, is contemplating running again for the US Senate in November, a Democratic campaign consultant who has worked with him said today. Earlier this month, Kerrey announced he would not run for the state’s open seat, which became available when the Democrat who replaced him, Sen. Ben Nelson, decided to retire, Bloomberg News reported.

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“Kerrey is reconsidering, but has not made a decision,” Paul Johnson, the campaign consultant, told Bloomberg News.

Many politicos believe Kerrey is the Democrats’ best hope of holding onto that seat and their Senate majority this year, the Christian Science Monitor reported.

Before Kerrey was elected to the US Senate in 1988, he was a Navy SEAL from 1966 to 1969, losing part of one leg in the Vietnam War and earning the Congressional Medal of Honor, Bloomberg News reported. He was a popular Governor of Nebraska from 1983 to 1987. After leaving the Senate, Kerrey headed up New School University in New York City for several years, according to Bloomberg News.

One potential liability to his candidacy now: Kerrey’s lived in New York since 2001, which raises questions about his eligibility to run, the Washington Post reported.

Republicans jumped on that detail today. "To be sure, this isn’t the first time Kerrey has flirted with a return to public life after leaving the Senate many years ago,” Rob Jesmer, executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement, according to the Christian Science Monitor. “In 2005, for example, he very publicly considered a run for New York City mayor saying, 'this is now my city….' ”

Whatever Kerrey decides, Nebraska will soon know for sure: The state’s candidate filing deadline is Mar. 1, Bloomberg News reported.