Sen. Bob Corker Seems To Regret Mentioning The Presidency

Corker has served on the U.S. Senate since 2007. Credit: Corker.Senate.gov

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Sen. Bob Corker told reporters earlier this week that he wasn’t ruling out running for president. But he doesn’t seem too pleased about the media flurry that his statement created.

At a media event Friday, I began to ask him for more details about his possible presidential run, but Corker cut me off to clarify that I was misinterpreting his statement.

“Earlier this week, you had mentioned you were pondering running for president,” I began.

“I didn’t really say it that way,” he said with a laugh. “I gave a stream-of-consciousness answer to a question about, ‘Would I consider it.'”

Corker says he’s looking for a “consensus candidate” to run for president. “Let’s have a debate, but let’s after 2016 move our country ahead and actually solve some of the big problems that have been so unaddressed in recent times,” he says.

As to whether that candidate will be him, he says he’s not ready to make a decision yet.

Here’s what he told the AP:

[box] Corker said running for president would be a tough sell with his wife, who has remained in Chattanooga while he has served in Washington and “loves her anonymity.” …

“I will say that the order of magnitude of the impact one can have in Washington is vastly different for a senator, versus being the president,” he said. “It’s not even in the same spectrum.” [/box]