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I am you both have already seen this article from the NYT this morning. But
just in case you haven’t read it…

Dan Senor, a private
equity<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/p/private_equity/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>executive
and former military adviser to President George
W. Bush<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/george_w_bush/index.html?inline=nyt-per>,
has decided not to challenge Senator Kirsten E.
Gillibrand<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/kirsten_gillibrand/index.html?inline=nyt-per>in
the election this fall, he said in an interview on Wednesday.

Mr. Senor, 38, was considered the leading Republican in a field of
relatively low-profile possible candidates, and had drawn expressions of
support<http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE3DA163BF932A25750C0A9669D8B63&scp=5&sq=Dan+Senor&st=nyt>from
a growing list of party leaders, including former Mayor Rudolph
W. Giuliani<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/rudolph_w_giuliani/index.html?inline=nyt-per>and
Senator John
Cornyn<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/john_cornyn/index.html?inline=nyt-per>of
Texas, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee,
who
urged him to enter the race.

Mr. Senor said that after studying a potential campaign, he concluded that
“it just wasn’t the right time for me in my business life and, more
importantly, my family life.” He pointed to his two young sons and his work
as a founder of an investment firm, Rosemont Solebury Capital
Management<http://www.rosemontsolebury.com>.


“My family would have to endure an absentee father,” he said. As for his
work, he said, “I would have had to unwind myself from the business.”

Mr. Senor said his decision was not based on the professional future of his
wife, the CNN anchorwoman Campbell
Brown<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/campbell_brown/index.html?inline=nyt-per>.
If he were to run, many speculated, Ms. Brown might need to recuse herself
from her on-camera role, in which she frequently covers politics.

A person familiar with the situation said CNN had given Ms. Brown and Mr.
Senor “lots of time and space to work this out.”

Mr. Senor’s explanation for staying out of the election echoes that of Mortimer
B. Zuckerman<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/z/mortimer_b_zuckerman/index.html?inline=nyt-per>,
the publisher of The Daily News, who had cited his small children and hectic
work schedule for not
running<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/nyregion/03mort.html>.


Indeed, deciding not to oppose Ms. Gillibrand, a Democrat whom Gov. David A.
Paterson<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/david_a_paterson/index.html?inline=nyt-per>appointed
to the seat last year, has become a trend. Harold
E. Ford Jr.<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/harold_e_ford_jr/index.html?inline=nyt-per>,
a former Tennessee congressman, chose to remain on the sidelines after a
very public flirtation<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/nyregion/03ford.html>with
challenging Ms. Gillibrand for the Democratic nomination.

Speaking of Mr. Senor’s decision, John Faso, who had encouraged his
candidacy and was the Republican candidate for governor in 2006, said, “It
think it’s unfortunate.” He said he believed that Mr. Senor had realized
that putting together a winning campaign would have required an earlier
start.

“Looking at these things from the outside,” Mr. Faso said, “having run
statewide twice, it always is a lot easier to talk about it than to do it.”

So far, three Republicans have said they will run: Bruce A. Blakeman, who
dropped out of the New York mayoral race last year; David Malpass, a former
economist at Bear Stearns who worked in the Reagan administration; and Joseph
J. DioGuardi<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/joseph_j_dioguardi/index.html?inline=nyt-per>,
a former member of the House.

Political aides to Ms. Gillibrand had signaled that they would attack Mr.
Senor for his work as a military adviser in
Iraq<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/nyregion/17about.html>,
where he served as the chief spokesman for the coalition government after
the American-led invasion in 2003. But Mr. Senor said his decision was not
based on anything he had detected in public polls, or worries about losing.

“This is a winnable race,” he said.

Mr. Senor said he had looked forward to debating the issues of “skyrocketing
taxes and spending,” President
Obama<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per>’s
health care legislation and a “troubling” American foreign policy, which he
said had left Democrats politically vulnerable.

According to those close to Mr. Senor, he had begun to line up a network of
financial contributors, including Paul Singer and Roger Hertog, two
prominent New York Republicans, as well as many supporters of the 2008
presidential campaign of Mitt
Romney<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/mitt_romney/index.html?inline=nyt-per>,
a former Massachusetts governor.

Mr. Senor spent Tuesday night and Wednesday morning letting those supporters
know he would not be a candidate, these people said.


Arlene Busch

202-333-1880

abusch@rosemontseneca.co