Nevada Senator Bowing Out

Democratic Sen. Richard Bryan said Thursday he won't run for a third term, dealing the second blow in two days to his party's hopes of retaking control of the Senate from the Republicans in 2000.

Bryan, 61, said it was "time to come home" and "experience different challenges."

On Wednesday, Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey said he did not want to spend the next two years raising money for a re-election campaign.

Their decisions, coupled with New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan's announcement in November that he won't run in 2000, give Republicans competitive opportunities in three states where Democratic incumbents would have been favored to win re-election.

Republicans hold a 55-45 majority in the Senate, and must defend 19 seats next year, compared with 14 for the Democrats.

Bryan said he and his wife, Bonnie, had agonized the last three months, then made a decision over the weekend. He said the acrimonious impeachment process had not played a role.

"For me, it was just a matter of timing," he said.

A key factor in the decision, Bryan said, was that their three children will become parents this year.

Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle recalled when Bryan threatened to shut down the Senate if necessary to prevent the government from storing nuclear waste in Nevada.

"He is a fierce protector of Nevada's interests as well as an outstanding national leader," Daschle said.

Party officials already were reaching out to potential successors.

Democrats were in touch with former Gov. Bob Miller, while Republicans contacted former Rep. John Ensign, who was defeated in an extremely close Senate race last November against an incumbent, Sen. Harry Reid.

Bryan was appointed as Nevada's first public defender in 1966 and elected to the state Assembly two years later. He was elected to the state Senate in 1972, state attorney general in 1978 and governor in 1982. He won the first of two Senate terms in 1988.

Bryan admitted his departure from public life wouldn't be easy.

"There is a fullness of time when men should go, and not occupy too long the high ground to which others have the right to advance," he said, quoting Thomas Jefferson.

"For me, that time has come."

Written By Robert Macy, Associated Press Writer