Kerry decides not to enter 2008 race

WASHINGTON — Sen. John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who narrowly lost the presidency to President Bush in 2004, announced Wednesday that he would not proceed with a second bid for the White House, saying he preferred to use his position in the new Senate majority to press for an end to U.S. involvement in Iraq.

"We came close, certainly close enough to be tempted to try again," Kerry said, invoking his 2004 race, at the conclusion of a 30-minute speech attacking Bush's Iraq policy on the Senate floor. "There are powerful reasons to want to continue that fight now. But I've concluded that this isn't the time for me to mount a presidential campaign. It is the time to put my energy to work as part of the majority of the Senate and do all I can to end the war."

Kerry's announcement, though it came in an unorthodox place, was not a surprise.

He was bowing to a Democratic Party that was clearly unreceptive and had turned its attention to new candidates, in particular Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, who both got into the race this month. Many Democrats had said they expected Kerry would decide not to run after assessing how much support he had in his party. Already, most of his aides from the 2004 campaign have moved on.

Still, his decision sent ripples across the political waters, answering one more question about what the final Democratic field might look like.

More than that, it appeared to bring to completion a candidacy that for Kerry never truly ended after that Election Day in 2004 which began with exit polls showing him heading for a solid win — aides were addressing him as Mr. President — and ended with him making a concession call to Bush. That experience, friends said, left Kerry bitter and frustrated and eager for a rematch.

He used his time on the Senate floor to recount his own history as a Vietnam veteran who returned from war nearly 40 years ago to become an opponent of the conflict. His voice cracking with emotion, he drew frequent comparisons between the two wars as he made a case against Bush's foreign policy in the Middle East.

"The fact is, what happens here in the next two years may irrevocably shape or terribly distort the administration of whichever candidate is next elected president," he said, adding: "I don't want the next president to find that they have inherited a nation still divided and a policy destined to end as Vietnam did."

Kerry's speech drew tributes from fellow Democrats, including the senior Democrat from Massachusetts, Edward M. Kennedy, who had been pushing Kerry to make a decision.