Frist won't run for White House in '08

WASHINGTON _ Senate majority leader Bill Frist announced yesterday that he would not run for president, curtailing his once-promising political career and winnowing the Republican presidential field for Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and other social conservatives.

The departure of Frist, a Harvard-trained heart surgeon who rose quickly on Capitol Hill to become majority leader, relieves Romney of a potentially formidable rival for the Christian conservative vote, particularly in the South. Many evangelical Christians had soured on Frist after he allowed a Senate vote on embryonic stem cell research, but the two-term senator from Tennessee had strong conservative credentials because of his ardent stands against gay marriage and abortion.

Romney, who has aggressively courted Christian conservatives, is now poised to become a strong contender among a constituency typically skeptical of Northeastern candidates -- especially one from the liberal Bay State, analysts said.

It's too early for Romney "to do cartwheels yet," but "it does take out a rival for the conservative element" of the Republican Party, said Lee Miringoff , an independent pollster with the Marist Institute for Public Opinion in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Christian leaders said Romney is making unexpected inroads among their followers and would benefit from Frist's decision to sit out of the 2008 race. "I think conservatives generally, not just Christians, are searching for that candidate that can compete on the same level as [Arizona Senator John] McCain and [former New York City mayor Rudolph] Giuliani ," said Gary Bauer , a onetime GOP presidential candidate who is now president of American Values, a conservative group. "I think Governor Romney will certainly be someone they look at very hard."

In a statement, Frist said that when he retires from the Senate in January, he intends to "return to my professional roots as a healer," continuing his international trips to provide medical care to those living in poverty and civil war.

"In the Bible, God tells us for everything there is a season, and for me, for now, this season of being an elected official has come to a close," he said. "I do not intend to run for president in 2008."

Frist, 54, did not say why he abandoned his exploratory bid, although political specialists note that presidential hopefuls who quit early generally do so because they lack the financial or popular support necessary to sustain a lengthy campaign.

Public opinion polling is spotty and notoriously unreliable at this stage in the 2008 presidential race, because would-be candidates are not campaigning full time and name recognition tends to drive the polling numbers. But Frist did not reach the top of any early polls, and he is still under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations of insider trading involving HCA Inc., a firm founded by his family. Frist has denied any wrong doing.

A recent CNN poll had Frist drawing just 3 percent of support in a GOP presidential primary contest -- well behind Giuliani, McCain, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, and Romney.

In Miami for a national governors conference, Romney declined to comment on what Frist's decision meant for his own possible campaign, but praised the senator for helping win confirmation this year for Supreme Court Justices John G. Roberts Jr. and Samuel A. Alito Jr., both heavily favored by Christian conservatives.

"America is a better place because of Senator Frist," Romney said in a statement. "I look forward to the contributions he will make as a private citizen."

Christian conservatives were initially skeptical of Romney because of what they perceived as his weak position against abortion, said Connie Mackie of the conservative Family Research Council. But recently, "he's been surprisingly well-received" by conservatives because he is against abortion and gay marriage, she said.

With prominent conservatives such as Republican Senators George Allen of Virginia and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania -- both of whom were defeated in midterm elections -- knocked out of the presidential race as well, Romney has a clearer shot at winning over the evangelical and social conservative vote, analysts said.

Bauer said the GOP primary will be split into two segments: one for a moderate candidate, such as Giuliani or McCain, and the other for a more socially conservative contender, such as Romney, Gingrich, or Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas.

"This makes the South far more competitive" and will boost the chances of candidates like Romney and Brownback, said David Kensinger , an informal adviser to Brownback. He said Brownback has a geographic advantage compared with Romney, but "the race for support in the southern primaries is now wide open."

Early in his political career, Frist developed a reputation as a socially conservative yet nonideological senator who continued to use his medical skills in office. He traveled to Africa during congressional recesses to treat the needy, and tended to the wounded at the scene of a 1998 shooting at the Capitol. When former Senate majority leader Trent Lott , Republican of Mississippi, was forced out of his leadership post after making a racially insensitive remark, Senate Republicans -- with the backing of the White House -- chose Frist to replace him.

But while supporters praised Frist's ability to get conservative judges past Democratic opposition, critics and some fellow lawmakers contended that the majority leader's presidential aspirations interfered with his ability to manage the Senate. Frist became heavily involved in the case of Terri Schiavo , a brain-dead woman whose parents wanted her kept alive against her husband's wishes.

After viewing a videotape of Schiavo, Frist declared he saw signs of consciousness, angering opponents who said he was using the tragic case -- and misusing his medical credentials -- to win conservative votes. The majority leader also caused rancor in the Senate when he threatened to use parliamentary rules to eliminate the filibuster, a tool the minority party in Congress uses to prevent votes on controversial nominees and to block legislation.

Bob Stevenson , a former senior aide to Frist, said the outgoing majority leader may well return to politics after a break that will distance him from the politically charged job of being his party's leader in the Senate.

"Before he became leader, [Frist] was seen very much as a moderating figure in the Senate," Stevenson said. But "once you start being talked about as a presidential candidate, everything is seen through that prism."

Scott Helman of the Globe staff contributed to this report from Miami.