Ex-Gov. Warner Decides to Forgo White House Run - New York Times

Warner bows out--too bad, as I think he had something to offer: "Mark Warner, the former Virginia governor who had spent the last year working to establish himself as Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s biggest potential rival for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, announced Thursday that he would not run. His decision sent other Democrats scrambling to reposition themselves.

Mr. Warner, who five years ago became the first Democrat elected governor of Virginia since 1989, had drawn broad interest among party leaders assessing the potential 2008 field, both as a centrist elected in a Southern state and as a wealthy entrepreneur able to finance his own campaign.

But at a news conference in Richmond and in a subsequent interview, he said he had increasingly turned against the idea of running as he found that the obligations of even exploring a candidacy were consuming him and taking him away from family obligations. He said he had long set Columbus Day weekend as a deadline for making a final decision, fearing that to wait any longer would compromise aides who might want to sign on with other presidential campaigns.

“This is the right time politically,” he said in the interview. “It’s just not the right time for me in my life at this time.”"