Bumpers Won’t Seek Presidential Nomination

Sen. Dale Bumpers (D-Ark.) said Friday he will not be a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination next year.

“I have decided that I will not be a candidate in ‘88,” Bumpers was quoted as saying in a statement telephoned by an aide, Matt James.

Bumpers, who won election last year to his third six-year Senate term, considered seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984. He cited a lack of money and organization when he said he would not run then.

Bumpers, 61, said he “felt that I had a good chance in a wide-open field” and was “bolstered by support of colleagues in the Senate and by other political and financial pledges.”

However, he said, a U.S. senator can work for many of the same goals that the President works toward.

“So I’ll turn instead to other challenges. I look forward to being a senior member of the U.S. Senate and working with a new Democratic President,” he said in his statement.

Bumpers underwent knee surgery in mid-February to correct an old tennis injury. He had said that recuperation from the surgery would be a factor in his decision about running. Lately, he has been walking with a cane.

In the statement, Bumpers said the personal factor “weighed heaviest of all, because a campaign means a total disruption of one’s life and the life of his family. It would mean a total disruption of the closeness my family has cherished.”