I will not seek reelection the United States Senate but will retire from public service in January 2013. There is no reason other than the fact than I think it's time.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
After a great deal of thought and discussions with my family, I have decided not to seek re-election in 2014. Politics shouldn't be a career, and I never intended to make it one.
But on the big things, I'm not going to trim in order to win public opinion. Because I really don't want to serve in the Senate if I arrive there without permission to do the things I think need to be done.
Any politician that says no tax revenue or zero spending cuts does not deserve reelection. Our hole is so deep in this country with the debt and the debt service, the interest on that debt, before the big expenses come for Social Security and Medicare - for we baby boomers in a few years - that everything has to be on the table.
I'm never running for office. I love being able to speak to members of Congress or members of the Senate and floating on either side, because it takes all of us. It's going to take both of them.
I'm running for governor; I'm not running for a legislative office.
If you don't want to do your job as a U.S. Senator, then please resign your seat and stop taking taxpayer money for a job you're not doing anymore.
I'm not going to run for political office.
After thinking carefully about how I can best help my fellow Minnesotans, I have decided to not seek election for a different office in 2014. The warm encouragement from many people to run for U.S. senator or the governorship was deeply humbling.
I'm running for senator because it's time for a change.
In the spring of 1994 I decided not to seek reelection to the Senate. I had made the decision 12 years earlier, Christmas Day of 1982, just after I had been first elected to a full term, that I would do the best I could for a limited time.