Activist Won’t Challenge Feinstein

Iraq war protester Cindy Sheehan announced Thursday that she would not run against U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, sparing the Democratic incumbent a high-profile challenger in the June primary.

At a news conference in San Francisco, Sheehan sharply criticized Feinstein for voting to authorize President Bush to invade Iraq.

Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in the war, said Feinstein’s votes to spend money on military operations in Iraq had allowed Bush “to prolong the murder and the mayhem.”

“I am not running against Sen. Feinstein, but I will continue to be a thorn in her side,” said Sheehan, who had been weighing a Senate run for weeks.

Feinstein campaign consultant Kam Kuwata wouldn’t comment directly on Sheehan’s criticism. “Sen. Feinstein is a strong representative for California,” he said. “I’ll leave it at that.”

Sheehan’s protests outside Bush’s Texas ranch have made her a national celebrity, offering her a platform -- if not the money -- for a Senate campaign. U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer and other Democratic lawmakers urged her not to run, but Sheehan said their pleas only made the race more tempting. In the end, Sheehan said, she decided against it, because her candidacy would not have hastened a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq.

For Feinstein, Sheehan’s decision appears to clear the path to the Democratic nomination.

On the Republican side, the only well-known candidate is retired state Sen. Richard Mountjoy of Monrovia, a longtime leader of California conservatives.

Some party leaders have tried to lure another Republican into the race, most recently Pierre Prosper, a former prosecutor now running for attorney general. Prosper spokeswoman Elizabeth Blackney said he was “considering all of his options,” but remained “100% committed” to the attorney general’s race.