Bob Corker Rules Out Run For President

Bob Corker will not run for president after all.

The Tennessee senator says he’s pleased with the Republican candidates for 2016 and plans to focus instead on his new duties as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Speculation that Corker might run for the White House reached a crescendo last summer, when
national handicappers began to include him in the field of potential contenders for 2016.

The talk has cooled some since then, but just this past weekend, MTSU
released a poll asking Tennesseans
whether they thought Corker ought to run. 

Only 11 percent said he should, while 41 percent said he shouldn’t.

Corker was on the side that said he shouldn’t
.

“I have no plans to pursue that,” Corker said in an interview with WPLN
 on Monday. “I’m very challenged with my current role as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. It’s involved me in things beyond what I ever anticipated. … I haven’t thought of it by the way, in months and months and months, as I saw the field shaping up in a good way.”

Since taking over Senate Foreign Relations last month, Corker has led
hearings on Cuba, Iran and ISIS and took part in last month’s
Munich Security Conference in Germany. 

The second-term senator also plays important roles on the Senate Banking and Budget committees.