Edition: U.S. / Global

Oklahoma Republican Is Retiring From Senate

Published: October 8, 2003


''I've always said I didn't want to do this for life,'' Mr. Nickles said in a telephone interview after announcing his decision at a news conference in Oklahoma City. ''I came from the private sector. I always said I was going to return to it, and frankly, I'm shocked that I'm completing four terms.''

At 54, Mr. Nickles has been in the Senate for 23 years, and though he had been hinting at retirement for months he said he did not make up his mind until Saturday. Speculation on Capitol Hill had been that he would ease into a career as a lobbyist, although he insisted he did not know precisely what he would do.

''I don't have a clue,'' he said.

Mr. Nickles, known for his crusades against taxes and government spending, is the second Senate Republican to announce his retirement, after Peter G. Fitzgerald of Illinois.

There will be an intense battle for the Oklahoma seat. The state has reliably voted Republican in presidential elections but narrowly elected a Democrat, Brad Henry, as governor last year.

Republicans hold a two-vote majority in the Senate, and some leading Republicans, including President Bush, had urged Mr. Nickles to stay.

''I told him I'm finishing my 24th year and I don't know that I want to do 30,'' Mr. Nickles said of a talk with Mr. Bush. ''I think he respects that.''

Two Democrats, Attorney General W. A. Drew Edmondson and Representative Brad Carson, are reportedly contemplating campaigns for the Nickles seat.

Republicans suggested J. C. Watts, the highest-ranking black Republican in the House when he left Congress in January to start a public relations business, as a possible successor to Mr. Nickles. Mr. Watts issued a statement on Tuesday saying that he would not run. Mayor Kirk Humphreys of Oklahoma City, a Republican, is a possible contender.

Mr. Nickles is widely known as a forthright and staunch conservative. He broke with some Republicans last year, when, as the assistant Republican leader, he became the first in his party to suggest publicly that the Republican leader, Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, step aside over his racially charged remarks.

The suggestion was widely interpreted as a move by Mr. Nickles to claim the leader's position. Some Senate aides said the imbroglio guaranteed that Mr. Nickles would never rise to No. 1, sealing his decision to retire.

Mr. Nickles said on Tuesday that he had been leaning toward leaving long before Mr. Lott's problem.

Photo: Senator Don Nickles, with his wife, Linda, announcing his retirement at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma. (Photo by Associated Press)