He’s just joking, Senator Grassley doesn’t want to run for governor

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley has slammed the door on the idea he’d run for Governor in 2002. Grassley is Iowa’s most popular Republican, and he considered running for Governor back in 1997. He ran for re-election to the U-S Senate instead, and recently ended up as chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, a job he leaves soon because democrats have regained control of the Senate. It’s a turn-about that caused Grassley to quip he should have run for Governor instead. Grassley says there shouldn’t have been any attention given to the remark. Grassley says he has a responsibility to fill out his term in the Senate. He says he will continue working on issues at the federal level.Iowa Republicans were simply giddy at the idea of Grassley challenging democrat Governor Tom Vilsack’s re-election. He says he hopes those people are satisfied that he’ll continue serving them well as their Senator.Grassley says he wants to stick around the Senate, and regain the chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee if republicans regain control of the Senate in 2002 or ’04.