Senate Majority Leader Mitchell to Step Down

Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) announced Friday that he will not seek reelection this year, a surprise move by a staunch ally of President Clinton that may affect prospects for Administration programs in Congress.

Mitchell’s decision will remove a respected leader whose influence and negotiating skills helped get Clinton’s legislative proposals through Congress. It also may add to Democratic difficulties as they try to retain their 56-44 edge over Republicans in the Senate.

Five Democrats and three Republicans have now announced that they will not seek reelection this year.

Mitchell said only that he will “consider other challenges” in either public office or private employment, leaving even some of his best friends guessing about why he quit at the peak of his power as a key Democratic strategist on Capitol Hill.

Some colleagues speculated that he would accept a reported offer to become commissioner of major league baseball, while Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W. Va.) suggested that Mitchell, a former federal judge, would be a good candidate for the Supreme Court.

“I’ve made no final decision on the future,” said Mitchell, who colleagues have said showed “excessive dignity” in the leadership position to which he was elected five years ago. “I’ll consider other forms of public service and the private sector. No doubt some will search for other reasons for my decision. But there aren’t any.”

Mitchell said he started thinking about leaving the Senate about a month ago. One close friend said that, at age 60, Mitchell wanted to keep his options open for a job change before he concluded another six-year term, when he would be past the usual retirement age of 65.

Senate Democrats--and some Republicans--showered praise on Mitchell, and many mourned his coming departure. “It is the worst news I can imagine for the Senate and for the nation,” said Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.).

In an emotional tribute at a White House news conference, Clinton said: “He will be very difficult to replace. . . . He is a wonderful man. I will miss him a lot. And America is deeply in his debt.”

Even Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) lauded Mitchell. “He has been a great leader for his party,” Dole said. “His word is his bond, and that means a lot when it comes to leading the Senate.”

Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, chairman of the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, sounded a more partisan note. “It gives us another opportunity to elect another Republican so that Bob Dole will be the majority leader,” he said.

There was no clear favorite Friday to succeed Mitchell in the Senate leadership post. Veteran Democratic Sens. J. Bennett Johnston of Louisiana and Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii have sought the position in the past and may decide to do so again. Sen. Thomas K. Daschle (D-S.D.), a Mitchell protege and chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee, is also regarded as a possible contender.

The choice will be made by Senate Democrats after the November elections.

On almost every major piece of legislation in the last five years, Mitchell played a leading role, but he did some of his best work out of public view as he negotiated legislative compromises.

He recently prevailed in a rugged battle against a constitutional amendment designed to force a balanced federal budget, a proposal that he scorned as a gimmick that would do little to reduce the deficit.

Last year, Mitchell orchestrated support for Clinton’s economic program that got through the Senate only when Vice President Al Gore cast a tie-breaking vote.

He promised to devote the rest of 1994 to action on health care reform as well as welfare, crime and campaign-finance measures.

His retirement--announced first to the President after a White House dinner Thursday night and reported Friday afternoon by television stations in his home state--left his Senate colleagues thunderstruck. His reelection had been regarded as a sure thing.

“It’s an unusual day when a senator at the height of his power leaves for no apparent reason,” said Harold C. Pachios, a Portland, Me., attorney and personal friend of Mitchell. “I know he likes his job, but George believes that if he runs again, he’d be obliged to serve six years and he couldn’t be certain that he’d be there the entire six years.”

Mitchell declared his intentions with a few simple sentences in a statement paid for by his campaign committee and broadcast over Maine TV stations Friday night.

“I’m in good health and good spirits,” he said. “I’ve worked hard for 15 years to serve the people of Maine fairly and effectively. I’ve enjoyed that service and it’s the right time to consider other challenges.”

His departure from the race will leave a large void in Maine politics and is certain to set off a scramble to succeed him.

Mitchell was appointed to his seat in 1980 to replace Edmund S. Muskie, who became secretary of state in the Jimmy Carter Administration. He won a full term in 1982 with 61% of the vote and a second term in 1988 with 81%. A recent poll put him 60 points ahead of Republican Stephen M. Zirnkilton, 35, the assistant state House minority leader.

Mitchell’s farewell address to Maine voters was a mixture of plain talk, patriotism and sentimentality.

“We’re the most fortunate people ever to have lived, to be Americans, citizens of the most free, the most open society in all of human history,” he said. “I consider myself especially fortunate.

“My mother was an immigrant, my father the orphan son of immigrants. They had no education, but they dedicated their lives to the education of their children. . . . They taught me that, in America, there’s no limit to how far you can go if you get a good education and you’re willing to work hard.”

In thanking his supporters, Mitchell said that anyone who contributed to his campaign and wanted a refund would receive it. The remaining funds will be used to set up a scholarship program, he said.

Times staff writer Karen Tumulty contributed to this story.