This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Sept. 15, 2009 - After months of speculation -- at times, heated -- over Republican Sarah Steelman's political plans, the former state treasurer finally made it official Tuesday night.
She's not running for anything in 2010. Not for the U.S. Senate. Not for Roy Blunt's soon-to-be-vacated U.S. House seat in southwest Missouri.
Steelman, of Rolla, said in a statement that she has "unfinished work'' at home, raising her youngest son with her husband, David Steelman, a prominent lawyer and fellow former legislator.
"Michael is 14 and I want to raise him here in Missouri – in the heart of this country, not in Washington D.C.,'' she said, noting that her two oldest sons are in college.
Sarah Steelman had made an unsuccessful bid for governor in 2008, losing in the GOP primary to then-U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof, who was defeated last November by the Democrat, now-Gov. Jay Nixon, who then was attorney general.
In her statement, she acknowledged what many political activists suspected:
"For months I have considered running for the U.S. Senate and I have been honored and gratified by people throughout the state and country who have encouraged me to run," she said. "I loved serving the people of Missouri as State Treasurer and a State Senator, and I struggled with my decision because I know there is much work that needs to be done, or undone, in Washington."
But after explaining her decision to focus on her family, she left the door open to a possible future run for office:
“...To everything there is a season. This is my time to work hard as a private citizen,along with the growing number of like-minded citizens, to restore the conservative principles of freedom that made this the greatest country in the world."
