McCollum ponders run for Fla. Senate seat

Former U.S. representative and current Florida Attorney
General Bill McCollum (R) said he will “seriously consider” running to replace
Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) in 2010.

{mosads}“At this point, my plan is — at the appropriate time — to
announce my intention to seek reelection as Florida’s attorney general,”
McCollum said in a statement Tuesday following an announcement from Martinez
that he would not seek a second term. “However, given today’s development, I
will seriously consider and discuss with my family a race for this U.S. Senate
seat, and we will share our decision at a later date.”

McCollum said he was “surprised” by Martinez’s
announcement, and praised the single-term senator, against whom he ran in the
2004 Republican primary, for having “served Florida admirably.”

McCollum also lost in the general election in 2000 to
Sen. Bill Nelson (D).

In McCollum’s most successful statewide contest, he
defeated Democrat Walter “Skip” Campbell, 53-47, to become attorney general in
2006.

He served in the House from 1981 to 2001, and was known
as one of the House Republican managers of President Bill Clinton’s
impeachment.