Miller won't challenge Sen. Dole

Democrats scout for '08 candidate

With Rep. Brad Miller out of the game in the 2008 Senate race, Democrats are scrambling again to come up with a big name to take on Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole next year.

For weeks, Democrats had been caught up in will-he-or-won't-he speculation on blogs and at political events as Miller toyed with the idea of a race against Dole. One supporter, who started his own Draft Miller Web site, raised $3,000 from 70 donors in his effort.

Miller said Monday he had been ready -- excited, even -- to take on Dole in a statewide race next year. But family considerations and the chance to make a difference in a Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives captured his mind this weekend after long talks with his wife, Esther. He said he will seek re-election to the House next year.

"A big part of me wanted to run for the Senate," Miller said. "I've been in plenty of tough races, and probably the drive to take on that race is something that kept me thinking about it. ... But it's not just a decision about me."

Miller, a third-term member of Congress from Raleigh, has made his name recently working on issues affecting working families, pushing for reforms on predatory lending and going after high payments for corporate chief executive officers. In January, Miller became chairman of the investigations subcommittee of the House Science Committee. He has two major pieces of legislation, one on predatory lending and the other on bankruptcy, that he wants to introduce in the next few weeks.

"I have plenty to say grace over," Miller said.

Miller also fought an emotionally rough re-election race last year in a challenge from Vernon Robinson, a Winston-Salem Republican who lived outside the 13th District, played anti-immigrant radio ads featuring mariachi music and brought in thousands of dollars through talk-radio supporters around the country.

The race turned especially vicious when Robinson questioned why Miller and his wife were childless, forcing the incumbent to air his wife's medical history.

He doesn't want to put his family through that again, Miller said.

Sunday night, Miller called his 92-year-old mother. He talked with his siblings. He composed an e-mail to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Washington-based machine that recruits and buoys U.S. Senate candidates.

"Hitting the 'send' on that (e-mail) was sort of the decision," Miller said.

Dole's office said she would have no comment on the race.

Two who might run

Among the names circulated Monday to go against Dole were state Rep. Grier Martin of Raleigh and state Sen. Kay Hagan of Greensboro -- both of whom had been considering running for Miller's House seat if he had run for the Senate.

Martin, a 38-year-old Raleigh attorney, is a major in the Army Reserves who served six-and-a-half months during military operations in Afghanistan in 2002 and 2003. Dole has been a strong supporter of the war in Iraq and has criticized Democratic efforts to set a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops.

Martin said he was interested in becoming involved in the foreign policy debate, including what to do about the war in Iraq.

While Martin said he was focused on his state House seat, a Senate race "is not something I would rule out." His father, D.G. Martin, unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for the Senate in 1998, losing to John Edwards.

Hagan, a 53-year-old Greensboro attorney, was more coy, saying she was focusing on putting together a state budget. "But that doesn't mean at some point in time, something else might crop up."

"I will say she is definitely vulnerable in '08," Hagan said.

That was also the point made by state Democratic Chairman Jerry Meek.

"Every poll I have seen shows Elizabeth Dole is under 50 percent, regardless of who you run against her," Meek said. "That strikes me as an incumbent who is very vulnerable. When people recognize how vulnerable she is, people will be more interested."

The race also will cost a lot of money. Miller predicted Monday that the Senate race could total $40 million to $50 million, accounting for all candidate and national political groups' expenditures.

Dole's campaign chest held $1.7 million at the end of March.

(Staff writer Ryan Teague Beckwith contributed to this report.)