
Frist Says Job Bad Spot to Seek Presidency
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By NANCY ZUCKERBROD, The Associated Press
Mar 29, 2006 8:57 PM (31 mins ago)
WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says his high-profile job is a "terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible" post for seeking the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.
Making it clear that a White House bid is all but certain, Frist said in an interview with The Associated Press that remaining in the Senate would make a presidential run impossible. Frist plans to step down when his second term ends this year.
"I know the perch not to even consider," he said. "That would be, for me, the United States Senate or being majority leader." Asked if trying to run a campaign from such a position would be difficult, he replied: "Terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible."
One of possibly a dozen Republicans interested in the GOP nomination, Frist said in the interview late Tuesday that once out of the Senate, "you'll see, as you do now, the real Bill Frist but unencumbered by having responsibilities of leading this body, which results in negotiated positions."
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http://www.examiner.com/Politics-a62325~Frist_Says_Job_Bad_Spot_to_Seek_Presidency.htmlJob? Here's the real problem:
Senate Bracket
Don't let his cool demeanor fool you, Bill Frist is a serious competitor whose killer instincts were honed during his early days in medical school, when he repeatedly adopted cats from local animal shelters, pretended to give them homes, and then used them to practice his surgical skills. But there's no question that despite the ice water in his veins, Frist has repeatedly choked when it counted as Senate Majority Leader. He failed to get the job done for Bush on the Dubai Ports World deal; he failed to pass asbestos reform after declaring it to be the Senate's "top priority"; he couldn't block the extension of the Patriot Act, open up ANWR to drilling, or get Harriet Miers confirmed; and his efforts to ensure he could limit debate on judicial nominations were thwarted by members of his own party. Of course, his recent failure to focus on his long game may be because he's distracted by the ballooning investigation into his recent sale of $10 to $30 million of HCA stock--a sale of stock that he didn't know he had to prevent a conflict of interest he previously said didn't exist.
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