The people of Florida have spoken and Senator Mel Martinez is not running for senate in 2010. This is the best news I heard in a long time.

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DeFede: Mel Martinez Says Once Is Enough
Reporting
Jim DeFede
E-mail MIAMI (CBS4.com) ― The announcement Tuesday morning by U.S. Senator Mel Martinez that he would not run for re-election in 2010 was no surprise. He had not been actively raising money, and reported a paltry $1.2 million in his last campaign finance report. His chief political benefactor, President George W. Bush, is on his way out of town. And Martinez's own job approval rating is dismal.

According to the latest Quinnipiac University poll released two weeks ago, only 36 percent of Floridians said Martinez deserved a second term. Thirty-eight percent said he should call it quits and 26 percent weren't sure.

Martinez was easily the most vulnerable Republican Senator up for re-election in two years and he knew that Democrats, giddy at having won Florida in the presidential election, were going to invest whatever it took to capture Martinez's seat.

And yet in his press conference this morning in Orlando, Martinez assured folks none of these factors played into his decision to retire.

"Now, some might characterize this decision in terms of political affairs," Martinez said. "Some will say a re-election campaign would have been too difficult. But, quite honestly, I've faced much stronger odds in politics and in my personal life. My decision was not based on re-election prospects, but what I want to do with the next eight years of my life.

"The thought of devoting more time to my roles as husband, dad, granddad, brother and son to the family I love and cherish and to be Mel to my many friends that I miss, makes this decision easier than some might think."

I actually believe him. I believe him when he said this was a relatively easy decision. If he had been wavering, he could have taken more time and made his announcement after the holidays.

But I don't think Martinez really liked being a Senator. Don't get me wrong; I don't think he hated it. I don't think he found the job onerous. But I never had the sense watching him, it was a position he enjoyed or felt entirely comfortable in. He was always the reluctant Senator.

His legislative accomplishments were modest at best. And now with Democrats winning the White House, and adding to their leads in both the House and the Senate, the prospect of being a Senator is even less appealing.

Not that there was much appeal for Martinez to begin with. There always seemed to be a sense of obligation behind Martinez's initial run for the Senate, what Martinez this morning described as a "call to duty."

"We proved the American Dream is alive and well truly when an immigrant arriving here with nothing can one day be elected to serve in the United State
Senate," he said.

Before he was the reluctant Senator, Martinez was the reluctant candidate. He had been tapped by President Bush in 2001 to be the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and then pushed by Karl Rove and others to run for the U.S. Senate in 2004. Rove knew that with Martinez on the ballot it would boost Hispanic Republican turnout in Florida and ultimately help President Bush with his own re-election campaign.

And two years later, when Bush needed to reach out to Hispanics who were upset with the party's growing vitriol on immigration reform, the President recruited Martinez to become head of the Republican National Committee. But Martinez wasn't a very good RNC chairman and he gave up the post in less than a year.

With Bush in the White House, Martinez had a role to play. He was their guy. The one they could turn to when them needed help.

Now, with Bush leaving office, Martinez has no clearly defined role.

And for the first time in a long time he doesn't politically owe anyone anything. He gets to do what he wants. And he just wants to go home.



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