Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009

Cunningham won't seek NC Democratic US Senate bid

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A former state senator said Tuesday he won't seek the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr next year despite spending months traveling the state and testing out a campaign.

Cal Cunningham, a Lexington attorney and Army reservist who served in Iraq, confirmed he wrote a Facebook message to supporters saying he had "concluded that this is the wrong race at the wrong time for me and my family."

Cunningham, 36, had been exploring a bid since the spring, making the rounds of Democratic Party rallies and dinners. Time away from home appears to have played a role in his decision.

"I also owe it to my family - before committing us to a hard year - to be a husband and father first," Cunningham wrote. "Here on the eve of Veterans Day, I am reminded of the over 900 days our family has been separated because of active military service in the last few years. Today, I choose to be home."

At least three Democrats already have said they're seeking the nomination, including North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall. Another potential Democratic candidate - U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge of Lillington - has been expected to announce a decision for weeks.

Etheridge, a seventh-term congressman who this year joined the powerful Ways and Means Committee, was expected to unveil his decision last weekend. But he delayed it because he couldn't get home as the House voted on the health care bill, according to Jason Sulham, an Etheridge spokesman.

"He now expects to make a decision by the end of this week," Sulham wrote.

Cunningham was elected to the state Senate in 2000 but didn't run two years later because changing legislative boundaries had made his district too Republican for him to win.

Kenneth Lewis of Durham and Frank Deaton II of Charlotte also have filed federal campaign documents indicating they'll run in May's Democratic primary. Marshall ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate nomination in 2002.

Several other Democrats - Attorney General Roy Cooper and Rep. Heath Shuler among them - considered the race but ultimately declined.

Burr, a former congressman who defeated Democrat Erskine Bowles in 2004 for his current seat, had nearly $3.5 million in his campaign coffers as of Sept. 30.

Lewis reported his campaign had $184,000 on the same date, while Marshall, who announced her bid Sept. 9, reported $164,000, according to federal election filings. Deaton didn't organize his campaign officially until early October.